Save Our Education Report

SAVE OUR EDUCATION

Protect every child’s right to learn in the COVID-19 response and recovery Save the Children believes every child deserves a future. Around the world, we work every day to give children a healthy start in life, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. When crisis strikes, and children are most vulnerable, we are always among the ﬁrst to respond and the last to leave. We ensure children’s unique needs are met and their voices are heard. We deliver lasting results for millions of children, including those hardest to reach.

We do whatever it takes for children – every day and in times of crisis – transforming their lives and the future we share.

Acknowledgements This report was written by Hollie Warren and Emma Wagner. Thanks to Oliver Fiala for leading on the research and analysis for this report. Special thanks to our colleagues Maren Hemsett, Helle Gudmandsen, Marian Hodgkin, Rowan Ainslie, Tahera Bandali and Jess Edwards for their support with drafting sections of the report. We also appreciate the feedback of colleagues from across Save the Children member, regional and country ofﬁces whose contributions have undoubtedly improved the report. A number of expert reviewers also gave invaluable feedback, for which we are very grateful. We acknowledge the children and their carers who have shared their experiences with us and given us permission to use their images.

Some names have been changed to protect identities.

Published by Save the Children St Vincent House 30 Orange Street London WC2H 7HH UK savethechildren.net

First published 2020

This publication may be used free of charge for the purposes of advocacy, campaigning, education and research, provided that the source is acknowledged in full.

Cover photo: Hana, 14 in Gaza describes herself as someone who looked death in the eye and survived. She says education is the biggest challenge for girls in Gaza, as many are forced to stay at home with their families or simply cannot afford to go to school. She says “education is like a weapon in a person’s hand”. (Photo: Alessandra Sanguinetti / Save The Children)

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-19 pandemic -19

nprecedented emergency education ommendations: in the keeplearning alive VID ild back for better for ild back learning ep learning alive epare for a safe return a safe epare for to school An u Ke Pr Bu Rec CO nnex 2: Financing gap nnex 2: Financing Estimatingnnex 3: the increase in school dropout nnex 1: Vulnerability Index Vulnerability nnex 1: ndnotes

by Save the Children, in Kinshasa, in the DRC wears a facemask that she made. keep herselfTo busy during school closures, she makes masks for family members to protect themselves from the pandemic. Eloge, a member 15, of the Youth Council set up 1 Executive summary Executive Contents 2

3 4 5 A E A A Executive summary

The school that 13-year-old Hawo from Somalia attends is closed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic – as are schools for nearly a billion children around the world. It’s not the ﬁrst time her education has been interrupted. When her village was hit by drought in 2017, Hawo’s family lost everything. Over the past three years, they settled into a new home and started to build a new life. Hawo went back to school and was happy to be learning again. But now the COVID-19 pandemic has turned her life upside down once again. Without access to a TV or radio in her village, Hawo has limited ways to continue her studies during school closures. “I don’t know when we will be able to go back, so that I can continue my education and meet my friends,” she says. “This really worries me.”

THE BIGGEST GLOBAL EDUCATION With ten years left to achieve SDG4, the question EMERGENCY OF OUR LIFETIME as to how the world proposes to reduce the widening gaps between the rhetoric of the education Today, Hawo’s hope for education, like the hopes commitments and the reality on the ground has of millions of other children around the world, is taken on a new urgency. in grave jeopardy. In early April 2020, in an effort The poorest and most marginalised children to halt the spread of COVID-19, an estimated are at risk – especially from losing out on 1.6 billion learners globally – 91% of the total – learning and not returning to the classroom. were out of school. For the ﬁrst time in human history, an entire generation of children globally Schools not only provide children with a space to have had their education disrupted. learn. For many children school is also a safe place where they can receive meals, access healthcare, This emergency comes on top of an existing learning including mental health services, and play with crisis. UNESCO’s most recent projections for their friends. Teachers can be children’s frontline Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4) – a good- responders and protectors. But with school closures, quality education for every last child – are dire: they children are missing out on these essentials the predict almost no progress on reducing the number school environment can offer. of children who are out of school by 2030.1 This equates to millions of children not going to As the virus begins to subside in some countries, school and not learning. And a generation of early childhood centres and schools are beginning children consigned to poorer life chances. to reopen and children are returning. They face challenges in trying to learn in an environment Before the pandemic struck, 258 million children where the virus still exists and where schools need 2 3 were out of school, including 130 million girls. to adapt to a new reality – physical distancing, And even when children were at school, many learning in shifts, an increased focus on hygiene were not learning. 53% of 10-year-olds in low- and practices and concerns over children’s wellbeing. middle-income countries are not able to read well, increasing to 80% in low-income countries.4

ii “I’m so sad that I will miss school.” PHOTO: SAID FADHAYE SAID PHOTO: The world’s most vulnerable children may not have Even for those children who do return to school, been in school in the first place – and if they were, many will have experienced significant setbacks they now may not make it back there. These with their learning and wellbeing. In low-income children include: and conflict-affected countries, the poorest children • children pushed into poverty because of do not have access to the internet or devices to COVID-19, who may be forced to work because access online learning. Their parents may not be their families are struggling to put food on the able to read and write. Even if children in these table and keep a roof over their heads situations are able to get hold of printed materials,

SAVE OUR EDUCATION SAVE • adolescent girls who now face an increased risk they are unlikely to be in a position to continue of gender-based violence, early pregnancy or to learn to a satisfactory level. Many children will child marriage, trapped in a cycle of violence have experienced stress and anxiety without the and poverty, and denied the chance to fulfil safety, protection and support that schools and their potential teachers afford, on top of the socioeconomic effects • refugee and internally displaced children – like of the crisis on families and households that were Rohingya children forced to leave Myanmar or already struggling. Syrian children fleeing conflict – who live in The global community hopes that before too long overcrowded camps and settlements with little a vaccine for COVID-19 will be found, produced or no basic healthcare and limited opportunities and universally delivered, and the world will become to learn safer. But unless action is taken now, the • children living in conflict-affected areas who are long-term legacies of the pandemic will be at risk of being recruited into armed groups; rising inequality and a devastating impact children forced to do hazardous and exploitative on children’s learning. work; children forced into marriage and early pregnancy New analysis for this report shows how • children with disabilities who already struggle to COVID-19 may affect both the funding and access inclusive education opportunities. Children the delivery of education in some of the with disabilities made up 15% of all out-of-school countries most at risk of falling behind. children before the pandemic.5 We know from previous crises that the longer Millions of children risk losing out on their children are out of school, the greater the risk that education. The price they will have to pay is they do not return to school. their future. Our new analysis examines which countries are most at risk of seeing their progress towards SDG4 stalling or even reversing due to the As part of the response impact of the pandemic. It suggests that up to to COVID-19 in Uganda, 9.7 million children are at risk of dropping out Save the Children has distributed learning of school due to rising levels of child poverty. packs to more than 100,000 children We identified 12 countries – Niger, Mali, Chad, across the country. Liberia, Afghanistan, Guinea, Mauritania, Yemen, Nigeria, Pakistan, Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire – as being at ‘extreme risk’ of falling behind in their progress towards SDG4. This comes at a time when we expect education budgets to be under pressure as governments shift spending towards the health and economic response to the pandemic. Our analysis estimates that the economic consequences of the pandemic could lead to an education financing gap in low- and middle-income countries of $77 billion over the course of the next two years.

iv PHOTO: ALUN MCDONALD / SAVE THE CHILDREN EXECUTIVE SUMMARY v The This action must: ep learning while alive schools closed. are ild back better, more resilient backild better, education dress gender-related barriers to education, liver continued payment and incentives livering programmes in sexual and sure thatsure distance learning programmes suring that schools safeenvironments are suring that child protection reporting and nimising the use of schools as health epare the for safe reopening of schools. ovide every child every withovide a learning assessment oviding food to children who normally rely eate inclusive and gender-sensitive back-to- eate targeted interventions and expand ACK: Efforts to implement and fund OTECT: Ensure that all childrenOTECT: are school campaigns social protection to get the most marginalised children back to school their education. en reach the most marginalised children de teachersfor cr pr on return to school to identify appropriate remedial education cr ad including laws, policies and harmful social norms that girls prevent from continuing en childrenfor to return to and have preparedness plans in case they need to againclose pr on school meals de reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and addressing gender-based violence (GBV) en referral systems can be adapted times for of school closure mi facilities and quarantine sites. Ke Pr Bu systems.

• • response and plans recovery with targeted action to ensure learning opportunities the for most marginalised children. • • • • • PR healthy, safe and well while out of school and when they return by: • • • • • to coordinate action and lead on tracking progress on the three priority areas outlined in this report: • • TR the global education action plan must be tracked and actors held to account. education community should urgently meet

4. 5.

This global 6 AN: Agree and implement a global ARN: Interventions must ensure the VEST: Commit to increasedVEST: funding LE most marginalised children are learning. National governments should produce and implement education national COVID-19 countries scheduled to spend $45 billion on debt repayments, it is time to convert debt liabilities into investments in children. We call on call donors to to invest ensureWe the education actionglobal plan has COVID-19 the resources required to implement it. billion, $35 including billion at least in grant ﬁnancing, $10 should be mobilised through Bank the World and other multilateral development banks, creating a supplementary International Development Association budget by the Annual Meetings in October 2020. With the poorest IN for education from to recover this crisis: PL educationCOVID-19 action plan. education emergency requires a coordinated global education response that is planned, well inclusive, gender responsive and adequately monitored and held accountable.

3. 3. 2. world must come together to protect education and put the it at very heart of the global recovery effort. Governments and donors must act in the following areasﬁve this to overcome crisis and build back better achieving towards SDG4 in 2030. 1. and life chances of a generation of children. thisAt time of unprecedented crisis, the caregivers, teachers leaders and world a to save sure can make we education.generation’s Together, children everywhere get a good-quality education, theyso the can have chance their to achieve hopes and potential. The impact of schools closing on a generation of children will be immense. This is an education emergency that requires action must thetoday. act to save now education We sit back and watch as COVID-19 robs millionssit more back and watch as COVID-19 children of the future they deserve. That is why Save the Children is workingwith children, parents, This comes at a time when estimates new from UNESCO suggest decline that there could be a 12% in to aid education. Concertedglobal action on education is essential thefor from this cannot to world recover crisis. We PHOTO: SAVE THE CHILDREN ETHIOPIA CHILDREN THE SAVE PHOTO:

“Before coronavirus, I used to go to school. I used to learn in a classroom. I used to see my friends and teachers every day. I interacted with my peers in my neighbourhood. Now all that is impossible because of the virus. “I’m looking forward to the time when coronavirus is history. I want students to go back to school. “I tell all the children in the world to keep studying at home. Just because they’re not going to school it doesn’t mean that they should neglect their studies.” Saeda, 14. Ethiopia 1 An unprecedented education emergency

COVID-19 HAS CAUSED It is not only school-age children who are affected EXTRAORDINARY DISRUPTION by the impact of COVID-19. It threatens young children’s development in unparalleled ways. TO CHILDREN’S EDUCATION We know that children’s learning and development School closures have been a central part of start from birth, long before they go to school. governments’ response to controlling the The inequity in young children reaching their spread of the virus. This meant that at its peak, developmental potential is likely to be ampliﬁed by 1.6 billion children and young people were the wide range of ways the pandemic is affecting out of school – approximately 90% of the their lives – weakening health systems, reducing entire student population.7 At the time of access to health and nutrition services, eroding writing, in June 2020, 1.2 billion learners remained family livelihoods and savings, and closing early affected by school closures, including just under childhood care and development services. And at a billion children.8 the same time, families are facing the psychosocial impact of the crisis on parents and caregivers, an The UNESCO Global Education Monitoring Report anticipated increase in gender-based violence and found that despite government efforts worldwide child abuse, and greater work burdens for adults to provide alternative remote learning during the and children, particularly women and girls. pandemic, at least 500 million children and young people are currently excluded from Right now the home learning environment is more public educational provision.9 important than ever. Yet we know that growing up in poverty can seriously inhibit children’s Where distance learning strategies are being access to the learning environment they need implemented, there is a concern about the inequality if they are to thrive. When children grow up in of access between groups of children, with the an atmosphere of deprivation, with little interaction poorest and most marginalised groups of children with adults or persistent stress, their young minds most likely to be missing out. Over 60% of national fail to build or maintain important brain distance learning alternatives rely exclusively on connections. The damaging effects on children’s online platforms – yet as many as 465 million learning, development, wellbeing and health can children and young people in these countries last their whole lives. do not have access to the internet at home.10 The share of students with no access to the internet at home is as high as 80% in sub-Saharan Africa.11 BEFORE THE PANDEMIC, EDUCATION Where it is available, it is less likely to be accessible WAS ALREADY IN CRISIS to girls.12 This emergency comes on top of an existing learning Save the Children’s recent survey of children from crisis. 258 million children and young people marginalised groups in Bangladesh found that were out of school before the pandemic – 90% of children have not had any contact from their around one sixth of the global school-age school since it closed. 91% do not have any help population.14 Over a decade and more, little or no with learning at home (eg, from a parent or older progress has been made in getting more children into sibling). As a result, 65% of children reported that school. Girls face some of the greatest barriers, they are only studying a little at home and 23% are with inequalities starting early – 9 million not studying at all.13 primary-school-age girls are likely to never step foot in a classroom, compared with 3 million boys.15

1 2 SAVE OUR EDUCATION 4 (SDG4) will be met by 2030. by met be 4 (SDG4) will Goal Development Sustainable form that targets ten the of none that demonstrates report the Indeed, outcomes. learning improving or school into children more getting either on made being was progress no almost trajectories, pre-pandemic on that suggested mid-2019 in UNESCO from projections Sobering risk of not reaching their developmental potential. developmental their reaching not of risk –were group age at five –43% this of under children million 250 estimated an countries middle-income low- –in and early appear gaps learning these And low-income countries, the level is as high as 80%. as high level as is the countries, low-income a simple story by the end of primary school. primary of end the by story a simple understand and read cannot countries income 53% low- in middle- and that children of estimating new evidence World released the year Bank Last marginalised. most and poorest are who those especially learning, not are many that we know school, in are children Even when homes their from forced –were population global –1% people the of 79.5 million unprecedented record. on displacement level human of largest the world witnessing is the virus, the from shield to homes their in stay to people are telling governments when At atime education. and wellbeing safety, their to disruption and levelface threat even of an greater states fragile conflict-affected in and living Children SDG4. in promises our meet and rights children’s fulfil to track on back us put and pandemic the of impact the recover to from order in education in invest must Governments on track to gain basic secondary-level skills. secondary-level basic gain to track on be will countries low-income in people 10% young of than less 2030 by continue, pre-COVID-19 trends If systems. education radically invest improving in world not did the if crisis skills alooming of bell alarm the rang Commission Education 2016, the response. this of part essential an be to has school to returns child every single that and learning can keep children ensuring But Great Depression. Great the since recession worst the faces economy global the that (IMF) Fund Monetary International the from predictions early with economy, ‘global the lockdown’ have the will on impact the and pressure under cope can systems health how on been has crisis this of focus the of Much education. agood-quality access to struggled pandemic, even the before whom, of at the end of 2019. of end the at

19 40% are children, many many are children, 40% 21 16 In In In In

An An 17 22 18

their family make ends meet they have been forced have been they meet make ends family their help to order in because school to return not will children many that arisk is there families, vulnerable faced by strain economic the of aresult As threshold. $1.90 poverty extreme aday the below left be could children million 22–33 additional an alone, Africa sub-Saharan In 1990s. late the since trends poverty child global in reversal potential first the WorldThe predicts Bank all across countries. communities vulnerable in living children of millions the among poverty child increase likely to is This economy. the and finances family on astrain putting employment, on impact have asignificant implemented being measures distancing physical closures, school Alongside CHILDREN OUT-OF-SCHOOL IN ARISE RISK POVERTY LEVELS RISING “The situation is not good. Here in my towards SDG4. progress their in behind falling of risk’ ‘extreme at being –as d’Ivoire Côte and Senegal Pakistan, Yemen, Nigeria, Mauritania, Guinea, Afghanistan, Niger, Liberia, Chad, Mali, 12 – identified countries analysis Our methodology). 1for full (see Annex outcomes learning and gender, and group income by down this breaking including rates, We out-of-school current examined methodology) full poverty child of levels rising to due school of out dropping of atare risk 9.7 to up children that million suggests analysis Our pandemic. the of impact the to due even or reversing stalling towards SDG4 progress their seeing of at risk most be might countries which examined report this for Children Save by the conducted analysis New marriage. early or labour child into to families and assist families.” The government should give support at home, they will starve to death. and they have stay eat to nothing if their parents have no jobs. People to sell things on the street because area there are children who have Muamina, 17,Muamina, Mozambique Province, Nampala . (see Annex 3for (see Annex 23 1 AN UNPRECEDENTED EDUCATION EMERGENCY 3

PHOTO: CYIZA THEOGENE/SAVE THE CHILDREN 2.64 2.34 4.87 4.54 3.42 4.13 4.25 4.78 4.78 4.21 Learning adjusted years of schooling per (average child) 2.61 2.74 55% 43% 55% 55% 44% 35% 40% 44% 44% 38% Pre-COVID-19 proportion of girls out of school 68% 56% so countriesso that already had large equity gaps may require extra support in order to ensure that thesegaps highlight donot widen. here those We countries at the top of the index – who have we categorised ‘extreme risk’ – but and middle- low- all income countries risks face of increased dropouts and widening inequalities. 63% 49% 74% 66% 65% 49% children who are out of school 77% 78% 57% 62% 49% 73% Pre-COVID-19 proportion of the poorest 45% 28% 38% 38% 44% 33% 63% 53% 49% 42% 42% 47% Pre-COVID-19 out-of-school rate crossed the border from the from border crossed Emerance Burundi 2015. in born the was in refugee camp. going loves She normally to school. says Emerance, a five-year-old Emerance,says a five-year-old with whogirl lives her parents brothersand a refugee in Her family Rwanda. camp in playing,” playing,” “I miss studying and Senegal Côte d’Ivoire Nigeria Pakistan Liberia Afghanistan Guinea Mauritania Yemen Mali Chad Country Niger TABLE 1: VULNERABILITY 1: TABLE EXTREME INDEX: COUNTRIES THE RISK’ 12 ‘AT OF INCREASED SCHOOL DROPOUTS AND WIDENING LEARNING INEQUALITIES particularly at risk of dropping outof school, and While there’s no way of accurately no way predictingWhile there’s where many and how children may drop out of school, this index provides us with analysis of where this risk may be highest based on the education situation before the pandemic know hit. that We children living in poverty and girls two are groups 4 SAVE OUR EDUCATION “I want to learn here and Hamza, 13,Hamza, Syria to be my future.” I grow up. I want teaching to become a teacher when Odds report our year Last health. their and happiness their protection, their future, their to key the is it because delayed be cannot education that us tell They education. their continue to able be want to children hit, crises when that states fragile conflict-affected from and children with work extensive fromour knows Children the Save CRISES TO DURING CONTINUE WANT EDUCATION THEIR CHILDREN other needs. other over concern top their as school to going rank to likely as twice than more are crises 24 revealed that children affected by by affected children revealed that 25 Education Against the the Against Education

“No school.” “No 71% crisis. the answered about most them bothered what about people young surveyed UNICEF Africa, West in 2014–16 the crisis During Ebola education. on out missing about were concerned children crises health previous We during that know also 2018. in home their ﬂee to had ever they since Syria in camp arefugee in family his future.” my be to teaching up. Iwant Igrow when ateacher become to and here 13, like us: told Children Hamza, who 26 Hamza has been living with with living been has Hamza

“I want to learn learn want to “I PHOTO: SAVE THE CHILDREN THE SAVE PHOTO: 1 AN UNPRECEDENTED EDUCATION EMERGENCY 5

PHOTO: NINA RAINGOLD/SAVE THE CHILDREN solidarity, it calls on governments and institutions to work together globally to address the short- and long-term consequences of this pandemic. ensure they the have right information about how to support learning their and wellbeing children’s also are workingat home. with We education authorities to help plan the for safe return to school. advocating are with and onWe behalf of children to ensure decision-makers of their aware are concerns. This report is built on evidence gathered from our toprogrammatic date and response to COVID-19 other emergencies. TOGETHER EVERYWHERE As part Protect a Generation of Save the Children’s campaign, children made people-shaped paper chainsto symbolise our connection and stand together across the world. It parents gave the opportunity to talk to their children about global solidarity and the need child every to sure make gets the best start in life – regardless of where they born. were And as a demonstration of global Children in the UK make paper chains in solidarity with other children around the world living throughthe COVID-19 crisis. usually receive at school. providing And are we guidance parents for and other caregivers to social media and messaging making are apps. We childrensure safe at are home and not missing out on the meals or menstrual hygiene kits they would respond quickly and effectively tothe learning needs of the most marginalised children. the All over adapting are world, we and expanding existing work to keep children safe, healthy and continuing their learning. developing are distance learningWe materials, such as books and home learning kits, and working with governments and teachers to children provide with lessons and support via television, radio, phone, opportunities in some of the most challenging humanitarian contexts. amid the COVID-19 Now, crisis, capitalising are we on that experience to AN OVERVIEW OF SAVE THE OF SAVE AN OVERVIEW CHILDREN’S RESPONSE COVID-19 TO Save the Children has extensive expertise and decades of experience in delivering quality learning 6 SAVE OUR EDUCATION not proficient in reading and 14% and reading in proficient not primary- of are children upper-primary-school-age of 90% system. education efficient and inclusive amore creating –to crises humanitarian and famines drought, conflict, armed growth, population –rapid challenges faced enormous has Ethiopia Africa, in countries low-income proficiency levels at the end of primary school. primary of end levels the at proficiency minimum achieve not do the 89% that indicate students of assessments learning Large-scale school. in enrolled are not children school-age through a mobile application called Telegram called application amobile through learning in students their and parents engaging on focused areas urban in schools private some addition, In access. to for children programmes TV radio and educational broadcasting have been bureaus education Regional children. vulnerable for food provide to access to need the recommended also plan The continue. can learning children’s ensure to method alternative an as learning distance out setting plan and strategy aCOVID-19 developed Children, response the Save including key partners, with together Education of Ministry The 16on 2020. March COVID-19 to due closed Ethiopia in Schools world. the in countries developed least the of one also is it region, the in economy growing fastest the is it Although Africa. in country second-most-populous the is Ethiopia ETHIOPIA ON SPOTLIGHT 27 Like other Like other 28 multiple multiple However,(similar WhatsApp). to have been there • • learning: • • • ways: multiple in responding is Children the Save Ethiopia. in pandemic the by disrupted been has schoolchildren’s 26 million than education More • •

acce have not do households disadvantaged Many engaging with digital lessons. lessons. digital with engaging are students not or whether monitoring on emphasis enough been not has there Fo Th uncoordinated. and scattered been Us UNICEF and Education of Ministry the with together response, education Co Efforts to respond to the crisis have sometimes have sometimes crisis the to respond to Efforts TV channels are functional. channels TV far, So learning. remote eight support to channels Se schools. of re-opening for the process Guide children in age-appropriate ways. age-appropriate in children their with interact how on to guidance were provided with not families example, For children. pre-school-aged to attention curing curing r schools using methods such as Telegram, as such methods using r schools ing the the ing e strategy did not provide adequate provide not adequate did e strategy -leading the national humanitarian humanitarian national the -leading ss to digital devices. digital to ss 29 challenges to ensuring effective distance distance effective ensuring to challenges to help plan an integrated, participatory participatory integrated, an plan help to nine dedicated satellite TV TV satellite dedicated nine at no cost until the end of 2020 2020 of end the until cost no at Safe Back to School Practitioners’ Practitioners’ School to Back Safe continued on next page next on continued 39,000 reading books. reading 39,000 with them supplied and villages 33 than more in camps reading established has Children the Save Ethiopia, In

PHOTO: SAVE THE CHILDREN THE SAVE PHOTO: 1 AN UNPRECEDENTED EDUCATION EMERGENCY 7

PHOTO: ALUN MCDONALD/SAVE THE CHILDREN back-to- . Save the Children is rking with partners, conducted we a e Global Partnership Education for has allocated $20 million to support school activities working with the Ministry of Education and developing a proposal with implementation planned September for 2020. Wo rapid assessment on the impact of COVID-19 that captures the views of children and their caregivers. Our ﬁndings will be used as evidence in on our education, advocacy health and protection children. for Th

• • mental , which been have awareness and to help children and their families llaborating with four major religious nd UNICEF,nd to createrange a of friendly COVID-19 friendly COVID-19 protection messages shared with more than 310,000 churches and 15,000 mosques and aired on television, social media reaching and radio, more than 40 million people across the country. a and physical health and hygiene messages to stay safe at home. Co institutions to and develop deliver child- Collaborating with the Ministry of Education

• • SPOTLIGHT ON ETHIOPIA Charles, a Save the Children staff member in Uganda, is ﬁlmed delivering messages on how children canduring stay safe the COVID-19 crisis for broadcast on national TV. 2 Keep learning alive

A child’s right to a good-quality, safe and inclusive education does not end if schools are closed. Alternative distance learning programmes using a range of modalities must be available so that every child can continue their learning.

The impact of school closures extends beyond DELIVER INCLUSIVE DISTANCE disruption to children’s learning and carries other LEARNING WHILE SCHOOLS major risks to the most marginalised children, including those from low-income households, ARE CLOSED refugees and internally displaced children, girls, and During school closures, children and young people children with disabilities. These children and young need alternative ways to develop and learn, to stay people rely on schools to access other services connected to school and, when schools reopen, to such as school meals; menstrual hygiene kits; feel prepared for the return. health services, including deworming and malaria treatment; child protection services; specialist However, access to technology and materials support for children with disabilities; and mental needed to continue learning while schools are health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) activities closed is desperately unequal. The ‘digital divide’ and interventions. refers to the gap between different individuals, families and geographical areas, with different For girls, schools can serve as a protective factor income levels, in their access to technology and the against adolescent pregnancy, as well as child internet.30 Wealthier families are generally better marriage and other forms of gender-based violence, able to maintain their children’s learning while at through schoolchildren’s proximity to trusted adults, home. They are more likely to have technology increased interaction with peers and improved (computers, tablets, mobiles, TVs), connectivity and knowledge of rights. books at home. And wealthier parents are more In the education response to school closure, it is likely to have the knowledge and time to support essential both that learning is kept alive and that their children’s home learning.31 these other impacts are effectively addressed. This Four out of ﬁve countries with school closures have section will focus on four areas – distance provided national distance learning alternatives, but learning, protection, nutrition and children of these, 60% relied exclusively on online platforms. affected by conﬂict – and will examine the The digital divide here is striking: among primary evidence of what works, drawing on Save the and secondary students being targeted exclusively Children’s own evidence from programme delivery by national online learning platforms, 465 million – during this crisis. almost 47% of the total – do not have access to the internet at home.32 There are big regional variations in home internet access: 80% of students in sub-Saharan Africa have no internet access compared with less than 15% in western Europe. Our research shows that the inequalities of access to technology in low-resource environments we have seen over the last decades will continue up to and beyond 2025.33 Access to technology is often seen in a binary way – those have access and those

8 PHOTO: EDITOR ASABA/SAVE THE CHILDREN THE ASABA/SAVE EDITOR PHOTO:

“When I think of and hear the word corona I feel bad because it has made me miss school and miss my friends. I’ve missed my English lessons. I’ve been trying to read my books at home after I do digging and washing plates [in the family home] but it’s not good because my younger brothers want to read with me, and when I support them we just end up playing. I can’t wait to hear that schools are open again and I can play with my friends again.” Stephen, 15, lives in a refugee settlement in western Uganda, which is now home to more than 100,000 Congolese refugees.

As part of our response to COVID-19 in Uganda, Save the Children is distributing learning packs to more than 120,000 children across the country. The packs include self-study materials, a child-friendly comic strip explaining how to stay safe, a wellbeing diary and daily schedule to support children’s mental health, and stationery. Some packs also include illustrated story books adapted from traditional Ugandan folk tales. PHOTO: SEIFU ASSEGED/SAVE THE CHILDREN THE ASSEGED/SAVE SEIFU PHOTO:

“Schools are closed but the mobile reading camp still comes to our village once a week. The librarian lends us storybooks that we can take home to read. I borrow different storybooks from the reading camp. I !nd it fun reading stories to my family at home. It also helps me improve my reading skills.” Nassir, 12, is a 4th grade student in the Somali region in Ethiopia. With our mobile library he can continue his reading and learning at home.

who do not.34 However, the type of technology and in fragile contexts it is even less.35 Our study in available, how advanced it is, whether it needs 2018 found that the general dearth of high-quality constant internet access, and troubleshooting impact evidence on the use of EdTech is ampliﬁed in issues all affect a child’s experience of educational protracted crises.36 technology – or EdTech. What we do know is that Distance learning must take into account the gender those who have the latest advanced technology digital divide and embed child protection systems will beneﬁt much more than those with older or within approaches, including violence prevention no technology. measures and psychosocial support. In some In low- and middle-income countries, access to contexts, engagement with families and communities mobile internet is 23% lower for women and girls – will be needed to change attitudes and social stigma

10 2 KEEP LEARNING ALIVE 11

PHOTO: FRANCESCO ALESI/ PHOTO: SAVE THE CHILDREN SAVE THE CHILDREN 38 In Italy we have distributed educational supplies to children out of school during the pandemic. carry up to 200 storybooks at a time in wooden strappedboxes to their backs. The project currently reaches more than 22,000 children villages,in 33 which enables children to keep learning while schools closed. are

37 Wilson, 17, Nampula Province, Mozambique Wilson,17, in Ethiopia. Save the Children’s Camel Library Getting reading books to children in rural Ethiopia: our camel library Save the Children created a camel library in the Somali region of Ethiopia The in 2010. programme includes camels, 21 which are traditionally used by communities to transport goods across the hot lowland areas. Camels can culties, and there are are there and culties, dif! many are there because home from study to good studyto phone a online.” nothave who do people many “My experience of studying from home isn’t perfect… in fact, it’s not very very not it’s fact, in perfect… isn’t home from studying of experience “My Urgent efforts must be made to reach children who no internethave access with low-tech or no-tech learning options, including paper-based learning packs. The education sector can learn much from food banks and other health emergency distribution Therefore government and implementing partners should support parents in any effort to out roll the use of EdTech. Children need help from adults around them about tohow use the technology, including to how use it safely, as as well the motivation to keep learning. the internet, and that mean girls reluctant are tobe seen using these technologies. Research has consistentlydemonstrated that the of therole parent or caregiver is important when children use technology as a means of learning. that lead parents to limit girls’ access to phones and 12 SAVE OUR EDUCATION caregivers’ teaching skills and encouraging encouraging and skills teaching caregivers’ supporting education, with connected children keeping in impact have can apositive instruction audio radio and interactive we know evidence, global and programming previous on Based equipment. protective personal of use the and facilities storage quarantined including deliveries, such of safety the ensure how to about chains supporting lessons carried out over the radio. the over out carried lessons supporting is Children the Save Uganda, in settlement refugee Rwamwanja in closed are schools While

forms of communication, such as story-telling. as such communication, of forms traditional to itself lends it available; and are widely devices self-powered as for use aprerequisite not is supply electricity regular medium; multiuser and amultigenerational radio is Interactive place. in are already markets and infrastructure necessary the contexts, low-resource many Across efforts. learning in participation community

SAVE THE CHILDREN THE SAVE PHOTO: PETER MORU/ PETER PHOTO:

her father. her from support with aradio using home from learning keeps Uganda, north-east in 12, Anna, PHOTO: EDITOR ASABA/SAVE THE CHILDREN THE ASABA/SAVE EDITOR PHOTO: 2 KEEP LEARNING ALIVE 13

PHOTO: SAVE THE CHILDREN 41

40 Distance learning and wellbeing interventions must be appropriately designed, contextually relevant, Distance learning is not always designed with children with disabilities in mind. Programmes that only use one delivery mechanism or expect rigid inputs and functional abilities from students exclude children with disabilities. For example, interactive instructionradio excludes children with hearing impairments, and self-learning materials (paper- based or on phone or tablet) may be inaccessible to children who need the continuous support of an adult. Education, and Innovation. Science, Technology ensure households with or without connectivity ableare to access the package, content is inavailable different formats, such as posters and printed materials, phone texts and calls, audio, and video. Inclusive distance learning for children with disabilities in Kosovo education provided have and hygiene We packages 100 for children with disabilities in 20 primary schools municipalities. in seven These include toys, teaching materials and puzzles which children for have with we disabilities without any inclusive distance learning opportunities. This continues package support children all for with disabilities to carry out the activities inclusive, in the distance new, learning platform developed with the Ministry of Kelas Kelas 39 – involving local education local – involving officials Adjie, 17, West Java, Indonesia West Adjie, 17, We have adapted have our Early LiteracyWe and Math at Home children for package aged 3–5 years to meet different needs. Each video or audio session offers modifications in performing the games and activities children for with sensory, physical/ motor and information processing difficulties. To Adapting materials to young children’s different needs in the Philippines communities in children’s learning we Province Nusa Tenggara West In Indonesia’s runhave talk radio programmes show – Lintas Udara to advocate to communities about supporting learning during schoolchildren’s closures. The programmes a space parents for provide to share their experiences about home learning with their children and positive parenting. The of radio: power engaging read people’s lips when they were explaining explaining were they when lips people’s read masks.” face wear they as COVID-19 about understand. Deaf me have children like dif!culty couldn’t I sentences. or words new understanding is closed because of COVID-19, I thought it it thought I COVID-19, of because closed is understood I Then time. holiday a be would the as message, the misunderstood I that to easy not are used media and given information “When my teacher informed me that the school school the that me informed teacher my “When rural areas suffered from poor signal radio and and there issuesbattery local were over power, languages and comprehension. reported that, while participants felt the programmes did not adequately compensate for the loss of access to schools and teachers, they helped sustain a connection to education. However, During African the Ebola West pandemic, the Emergency Education Radio Programme, commissioned by the Sierra Leonean Ministry of Education, provided Science and Technology, programming academic in core subjects across age groups. An evaluation using focus groups adapted for different ages, gender sensitive and internet, radio, phone or television and paper-based inclusive. Digital solutions will require strong child materials. Emphasis has been placed on assessing safeguarding processes to protect children (and their access in different contexts as opposed to focusing personal and learning data) from adult predatory on a particular mode of delivery. Creativity and behaviour, cyber bullying, abuse and child sexual or the combination of multiple delivery platforms and other exploitation. modalities is needed to ensure we reach the most marginalised children affected by school closures. Governments, donors, partners and community members must support educators to develop and For children aged three to six years, Save the SAVE OUR EDUCATION SAVE deliver distance learning materials and activities that Children has developed semi-independent learning follow the Principles for Digital Development,42 and opportunities, including a children’s programme are licensed so that teachers and other actors can with songs and stories delivered through mobile use, adapt and contextualise them without permission phones, videos of cartoon animations, radio and or expense. Distance learning and wellbeing social media. It includes play and learning interventions should be effectively monitored to materials for different age groups, print-outs ensure they lead to positive outcomes for children. of activities portraying girls and boys engaging in non-stereotypical activities, and a guide for We are working with education partners, teachers parents to create their own home play area with and governments to develop and deliver a suite of safe materials. safe distance learning materials for dissemination by

Supporting Rwanda’s children to learn regional education bureaus and the national Schools in Rwanda will remain closed until Ministry of Education. The channels also September 2020. Save the Children is working broadcast risk awareness and protection with partner, Umuhuza, to remotely engage messages, including mental health and Literacy Champions to encourage parents to psychosocial support, and on how to support support reading in homes. In collaboration with children’s education. Messages will be delivered the Rwanda Education Board, we have had in local languages via TV and radio across approval for a drama series to be broadcast on the country. radio with messages to educate parents on how to support their children’s learning and reading Supporting early learning in Nepal at home. We have a new magazine, Karame, In Nepal, less emphasis nationally has been which captures African children’s stories, games placed on addressing the youngest children’s and books produced with local authors and rights to learn at home, so we are carrying out illustrators. Karame will be distributed along two interventions to support parent-focused with storybooks in ﬁve districts. learning opportunities for children of pre-school age. One programme delivers distance learning Online reading sessions for children activities to parents through phone calls, giving in Guatemala practical guidance on how to provide young We have delivered online virtual reading sessions children with a safe, loving and stimulating home for children and families in Nebaj, Cotzal and environment that promotes their wellbeing. Quiche to provide useful techniques for improving Parents are encouraged to practise activities with children’s reading skills at home and support on their children, using materials we provide, such as reading comprehension. cards, shakers and balls. Second, interactive voice receivers are being Supporting children’s learning through used to build caregivers’ knowledge and skills. TV and radio in Ethiopia Target caregivers can call a free number to Save the Children has secured nine satellite hear recorded content in local languages television channels that reach 8 million children about playful and and positive parenting and with learning materials being developed by activities to promote their own wellbeing, and to ask questions.

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PHOTO: HARRISON THANE covery covery re - continued on next page A young mother takes part in a session at a Youth in Action learning centre in Burkina Faso before schools were closed. pupils. in mid-April, A month later, the Ministry of Education launched an online platform to support distance learning opportunities children. for This includes content children for from pre-school to secondary education, along with training materials teachers. for channel radio A new solely remote for learning purposes was case management and guidance on post healthplans. systems, Weak inadequate infrastructure and limited access to basic social services Burkina make Faso highly vulnerable to a cross-country epidemic, with children especially at risk. reduce the spread of the pandemic,To the government took the decision to schools all close March 2020,on 16 affecting more than 4 million In early March 2020, when the ﬁrst case of in the country was reported,COVID-19 the Ministry of Health, with support from key stakeholders including Save the Children, developed a national strategy to tackle the pandemic, focusing on risk communication, community engagement, prevention guidance,

43 In March 2020, more than 44 Schools Declaration to in protect February 2017 schools from attacks. a five-year national strategy to (2019–24) educate students living in areas with high security challenges. The government endorsed the Safe The education system has been targeted with violence: teachers been have assaulted and killed, schools and educational resources have been destroyed. The Ministry of Education has affecting 350,000 students. 2,500 schools closed because were of insecurity more than 2.2 million people in need are of humanitarian assistance, of them 46% children. in education, employment, food security and limited natural resources. In 2020, the Global Humanitarian Overview estimated that Since 2016, BurkinaSince 2016, Faso has recurrent faced attacks by armed groups. Throughout the country, and specifically within six of the regions, the situation13 has severely deteriorated. More than 900,000 people are internally displaced. With of the around 70% population under the age of 25, Burkina Faso faces challenges SPOTLIGHT ON BURKINA FASO 16 SAVE OUR EDUCATION poorest households and those with limited literacy, literacy, limited with those and households poorest even the in programme) that shows Boost Literacy Children’s the Save from (including Evidence children. for their caring also while home workfrom to needing parents many with are closed, schools even so while more but all at times, true is This violence. without and positively children’s needs and behaviour to respond should They uncertainty. and stress extreme of times during especially environment, loving home and a safe with provide children to supported be to need caregivers and Parents AT LEARNING AND HOME WELLBEING CHILDREN’S TO ENABLE CAREGIVERS PARENTSSUPPORT AND of Education, a large number of children do not not do children of number alarge Education, of Ministry approved the by have been programmes TV and radio, website via methods learning alternative while countries, other many with As later. start will grades other whilst kits) hand-wash and masks (such as preventive measures with again started grades some 1June On schools. for reopening plan develop anational to Cluster Education the and Health of Ministry the with together came also Education of Ministry The introduced. to return to school. to return to be will children vulnerable most likely the less the are closed, schools longer The networks. telecommunication or electricity have to access working with the Yemen the Cluster, with Education working We are also local radio stations. through as well as roving local communities, cars on and schools in mosques, at loudspeakers using children’s wellbeing and learning support how to about messages sharing is Children the Save requirements, and social distancing country in the Taken infrastructure poor the consideration into Yemen in learning children’s Supporting FASO BURKINA ON SPOTLIGHT continued • • • • by: responded has Children the Save UNICEF. UNICEF. and Yementhe Cluster, Education Children the Save Education, of Ministries two the by primarily on worked being is that plan response anational of roll out the herald will This are closed. schools while education for delivering modalities explore to Council Refugee Norwegian and UNICEF wellbeing and learning and wellbeing children’s COVID-19during Supporting closures: school developed Children the Save Collaborative, MHPSS Together the with media. other and flyers podcasts, radio, via shared are being activities and messages These remotely. delivered be to activities parenting We time. adapted have this also during for children loving environment and structured provide awarm, to caregivers and parents support to key messages provide to approach Violence without Parenting fromits materials adapted has Children the Save disseminating messages to parents on how to how on to parents to messages disseminating learning outcomes. learning to add significantly can methods simple very using support and engagement sibling and parental

on COVID-19on schools. of closure the to due violence domestic of sup measures mitigation including and modalities learning distance with as tr remotely classes follow to their children equip to households di aining teachers and learning facilitators facilitators learning and teachers aining stributing 550 radio kits to vulnerable vulnerable to 550 radio kits stributing sessing child safeguarding risks associated associated risks safeguarding child sessing porting sensitisation on the risk of increase increase of risk the on sensitisation porting 45 Tips for parents and caregivers caregivers and for parents Tips

46 as a basis for organisations for organisations abasis as 2 KEEP LEARNING ALIVE 17

PHOTO: SACHA MYERS/SAVE THE CHILDREN fathers to integrate developmentally stimulating activities in everyday chores, all covering developmental domains. These playful learning activities disseminated are through a parents’ audio and SMS programme, and any other available communication channels. Specific adjustments madeare more for disadvantaged communities and families, including children and caregivers with disabilities. We are assessing are whetherWe different groups should be formed caregivers for from different minority ethnic groups to maximise caregivers’ engagement. including those who not are able to read, send bothwe and text voice messages. Supporting parents in Vietnam with online messaging In Vietnam, combining are we activities for children and caregivers’ for wellbeing into one ofpackage messages delivered dailyvia Zalo online messaging platform. So that parents all can carry outthe activities with their children, for learning.for This guide has been translated and contextualised in various countries as a key supplement to distance learning programmes. For the youngest children, from birth to six, Save the Children is empowering mothers and the crisis and during school closures. These include practical tips and activities to help children to cope with stress and establish regular a routine For Ntokozo and his sons, Joseph, and Sipho, 7, the 13, pandemic has followed the food crisis in Zimbabwe. support learning and wellbeing children’s throughout 18 SAVE OUR EDUCATION receives support from asupervisor. from support receives and challenges, and trends discuss to aweek once remotely meets that facilitators of anetwork of part is facilitator group The child. the with activities the out try to caregiver the asks and caregiver the with activities reviews the facilitator the calls, facilitator. group call the from these phone During aregular receive Bangladesh and Nepal in Families local languages. local radios in in aired strategically is content audio beneficiaries, targeted the reach To available. is messages content these ensure the that caregivers reminds service’ A ‘flashing needs. different with populations to possible as accessible are as materials the that ensure print) and to audio (video, material of types and channels delivery of acombination receives every community and context, each on depends radio spots). selection The advertisements, ringtones, SMS, through (reminders nudges and afacilitator) with session tele-parenting have or a options response and message automated an receive (where caregivers communication information), receive two-way beneficiaries (where communication one-way of combination a through delivered are being programmes COVID-19 Children the Save countries many In PHOTO: HANNA ADCOCK/SAVE THE CHILDREN needs, until schools are reopened. schools until needs, basic cover to their staff school and for teachers assistance voucher cash of use the consider can organisations humanitarian income, of for loss them compensate to exist programmes protection social viable no where and benefits, and salaries teachers’ preserve to possible not is it Where reopen. schools recovery when effective and for speedy essential be will They benefits. and salaries their and staff, support education and teaching entire the preserve to unions teachers’ work with should providers education private and all public and Governments standards. reduce or rights labour sideline to apretext become not should crisis This staff. support education and COVID-19 as such for teachers risks creates the mitigate etc) significantly can benefits, child benefits, unemployment 1.3 (basic SDG with line in floors protection social of implementation The disappear. livelihoods their broken and contracts their seeing risk personnel support education and teachers substitute teachers, contract countries, many In services. protection social and scale health up governments as strain significant under budgets public putting is pandemic The EDUCATION WORKFORCE THE AND TEACHERS SUPPORT at home, as part of our our of part as home, at together read family her and headscarf), pink (in 4, Jenaica, Mindanao, Philippines. Mindanao, in development and literacy childhood early improve to programme 47

2 KEEP LEARNING ALIVE 19

PHOTO: EDITOR ASABA/SAVE THE CHILDREN and conducting isnow its meetings with teachers, principals, and counsellors online, with a focus on enabling and equipping teachers with tools and resources to use online and distance learning with their students and community. A survey was conducted to better understand the availability of internet connection and the willingness of teachers to attend online sessions. Findings informed the design of the online sessions. to communities of women in leadership roles and of educationhow can empower girls. closures or sickness will also need extra support at this time. Additional assistance will be required for female teachers, who to more likely are on take caring responsibilities. It is critical to retain female teachers as models role students for and examples

elopment and wellbeing. The programme has v th Community Jameel, Dubai Cares, J-WEL i The Transforming Refugees EducationThe Transforming for Excellence (TREE) Programme partnership (in w and Hikma Pharmaceuticals) is coordinating with the Ministry of Education to support the development of online learning resources for teachers that focus on their professional de adapted its crisis approach during the COVID-19 Adapting teacher training in Jordan Brenda, teacher a in a refugee settlement in Uganda, supports home learning. for teacherfor wellbeing and professional motivation. whose children own affected are Teachers by school teachers connected during this crisis and supporting them to distance provide learning and student outreach significant could have long-term gains Teachers are not are immune from the impactTeachers of and school closures. They risk becomingCOVID-19 isolated from their colleagues and students. Keeping 20 SAVE OUR EDUCATION out of poverty and to a more prosperous life. prosperous amore to and poverty of out aroute as families their and children by perceived is schooling that given particularly settings, conflict post- in stressors significant most the of one is education formal of interruption the that shown has Research support. psychosocial and health mental and welfare, social including services, to access well as as threats, other and violence from a haven provides school girls, and boys vulnerable many For spread. its contain to taken actions and COVID-19 the of –because itself caregivers virus from separation and exclusion social exploitation, violence, gender-based violence, – including wellbeing and safety their to threats likely facewill increasing world the around children of millions of Hundreds AT LEARNING HOME WHILE PROTECTED ARE CHILDREN ENSURE the closure of schools, children are more exposed are exposed more children closure schools, of the With lockdowns. under for children rise the on Risk factors Risk vulnerabilities in conflict contexts. conflict in vulnerabilities compounds further how and this Niger and DRC in wellbeing students’ and teachers’ on COVID-19 of impact the on research conducting we are Studies, for Development Institute the with partnership In teachers. to support COVID-19 to response national its and the of part as included be to Cluster Education and Education of Ministry the with shared we have developed been modules development COVID-19-specific TeacherThese professional protected. them keep and ways appropriate in virus the about ages different of children to talk to are equipped and own stress their manage to strategies wellbeing with supported COVID-19, on information are they that have accurate teachers that ensures support This modules. self-study well as as development professional face-to-face distanced socially with groups small in teachers we are supporting (DRC), Congo of Republic Democratic the In crisis the through DRC in teachers Supporting 49 for violence, abuse and neglect are neglect and abuse for violence, 48

maintained while children are out of school. school. of are out children while maintained be can mechanisms referral and reporting that for ensuring recommendations includes This guidance. and programming evidence-based we are ensure using to approaches Schools Safe and Protect, to Steps Violence, Without Parenting our in We activities have adapted communities. their in and homes their in children of protection the support how on we best can focuses response Children’s the Save COVID-19 protection child distress. psychosocial and violence COVID-19 to vulnerable more make children may communities in all countries of the region – region the of all countries in communities education at aimed course multi-platform co is Venezuela, in which Cluster Education The America Central in parents and teachers Supporting are closed. schools while networks learning and supportive access to and competence professional their build to continue to teachers we are supporting colleges training teacher with partnering Through education. girls’ on Mozambique in focus a particular with Mozambique, and Somalia in teachers for development professional provide remote to platforms We other and Zoom are using Mozambique and Somalia in teachers for training Online podcasts. and radio through use, for ofﬂine downloadable available online, –is continuity educational for Alternatives Crisis: of Times in Education to Right –The people’sof course the lives, realities Taking socioeconomic account into teachers. and caregivers parents, including community. the in and family, extended the in school, at including upon, rely may they relationships supportive and positive from off children cut also COVID-19 have countries. measures prevention fragile conﬂict-affected in and groups armed and forces armed by children of use and recruitment the well as as violence, gender-based and pregnancy labour,child teenage marriage, child including community, the in and home at risks to - le d by Save the Children, launched anew launched Children, the Save d by 50 Stigma and discrimination related to to related discrimination and Stigma 2 KEEP LEARNING ALIVE 21

PHOTO: SAVE THE CHILDREN’S PARTNER SYRIA RELIEF

stern regions, we - COVID-19 during theimmediate COVID-19 preparedness and initial response phases. Our guidance remotecovers case management and makes recommendations on the importance of designating the social service workforce as essential workers, to be with provided personal protective equipment when face-to-face support is necessary to help children to recover. Save the Children is partnering with the Ministry ofHealth and Population and the ChildProtection Cluster to produce public service announcements on child protection risks. The announcements beenhave aired by more than 30 radio local stations in the east and far and nationally through Kantipur. Radio linked up REAL Fathers with mothers’ groups and teacher models role who part are of community child safeguarding structures, in order to support girls’ education and awareness raise of child safeguarding issues in communities and at home during school closures. This will linkage increase child protection during and after the pandemic. Getting child protection on the airwaves in Nepal Fathers intervention aims to motivate fathers to be more supportive of girls education and to mentor other fathers to do have the same. We Mekane Yesus Church to disseminate COVID-19 Church to disseminateMekane COVID-19 Yesus protection messages via their respective networks: and radio places of worship, TV, social media channels, reaching tens of millions of people. Protecting girls and girls’ education in Malawi As part of the Let Girls Learn project, our REAL We have partnered have We with the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, the Islamic AffairsTewahedo Supreme Council, the Ethiopian Catholic Church and Partnering with faith-based communities in Ethiopia during the pandemic in north-west Syria. Zina, 10, is supported through remote learning particular characteristics and implications of We have developed global have case managementWe guidance, which aims to initial provide support to child protection staff and partners to adapt their case management programming within the It adapts contagious environment of COVID-19. Steps to Protect, our approach to child protection case management, to into take account the 22 SAVE OUR EDUCATION for family members. for family care to or earn to need the to due school of out drop in order to increase household budgets. household increase to order in work forced to being of risk greater at families these COVID-19. of because million 100 than more by soar to set is hit. pandemic the before households poor monetary in – lived countries low- in middle-income and children of one-third –almost children million 586 reveals that UNICEF and Children the Save by analysis A joint school. to return to parents their by workwere found had encouraged rarely who children reopened, schools firewood Once for sale. involved being collecting in reported girls while trading, involved petty and being mining in reported boys Leone, Sierra in outbreak Ebola the Following crisis. the during learning their with continuing from them prevents which budget household the to contribute workto forced to being children of risk the increases This COVID-19 of result restrictions. a as diminish further incomes their see are likely to employment unstable in or are unemployed who adults with families poorest the allAcross countries, LABOUR CHILD are currently unemployed. are currently and jobs their have lost two-thirds Approximately epidemic. the of onset 70% the since than more by fallen has income that suggests people poor of sample alarge across Bangladesh in A survey school and the likelihood they will return there. there. return will they likelihood the and school to connection their both reducing education, distance COVID-19work during for time have less also will needs. needs. essential other and equipment protective personal equipment, children’s school with fees, school families helps support cash unconditional The children. disadvantaged 500 of families to transfers cash direct providing Vietnam’sIn we are Province, Cai Lao Vietnam in families vulnerable Supporting 52 New projections estimate that this number number this that estimate projections New 52a Disease in a family often forces girls to to girls forces often afamily in Disease 53 Girls taking on additional care additional on taking Girls 54 This puts children in in children puts This 51 disproportionately affect girls. affect disproportionately COVID-19 that indicate will closures school vulnerabilities gender-specific existing and Africa West in pandemic Ebola the from evidence but girls, and boys both of wellbeing and learning the for implications have significant closures School EXACERBATED ARE TO GIRLS RISKS A recent survey A recent spaces in villages, served a total of 4,700 adolescent adolescent 4,700 of atotal served villages, in spaces safe in held classes, small The effective. was learning vocational and health, reproductive and sexual skills, life in for girls class daily one-hour a simple Ebola, to due Leone Sierra in closures school During as an important or very important concern. important very or important an as and pregnancy marriage early violence, gender-based to closures school during exposure increased girls’ ranked and school-age girls affect disproportionately will closures school said that 69% respondents of reopen. schools once out dropping and pregnancy, early violence, gender-based of risk asubstantial at countries developing in COVID-19to girls are putting response in closures school that found 32in countries NGOs education fromover 80 staff of Development education. girls’ support how on to information with along marriage, child early of effects negative the on and for girls education of importance the on messages daily share they which through Committee, Education Village her or his of group aWhatsApp developed has organiser social Each girls. 2,300 to support tutoring and teaching provide distance The teachers studies. their continue to centres learning accelerated in enrolled girls –helps organisers social four and teachers –involving 90 Pakistan in support learning distance of model Our Pakistan in girls to a distance from learning accelerated Delivering crisis. current the within experiences their and girls of wellbeing the into research designing We are for broadcast. local languages in messages simple create to empowerment girls’ and protection child on materials existing our we are adjusting Mozambique, in local radio stations with collaboration In Mozambique in children protect to radio power local of the Using 55 from the Centre for Global for Global Centre the from 2 KEEP LEARNING ALIVE 23 58 61 The disruption to programmes to 60 Marie Stopes International predicts 59 communities, and sexual education is not taught in schools. Save the Children has launched an innovative, interactivegame app boys for and girls which provides reliable information on sexual health It as as well to how stay safe from COVID-19. also shows them where they can find support in their community. Let’s talk about sexual health Online misinformation on sex and sexuality contributes to high rates of teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases in Sierra Leone, especially in urban areas. about sex is tabooTalking in families and influence child marriage rates, deep-rooted gender norms play a larger part in the risk of girls being intoforced early marriage, as as well their choices about their fertility. in the home as children to more likely are be in violent relationships lateron. The increased risks of violence against girls and women during the pandemic an impact could have many for years to come. CHILD MARRIAGE PREGNANCY AND EARLY With increased pressure on household budgets and ongoing school closures, parents may decide their young daughters should marry. This may be more inlikely contexts where marriage results in dowry payments or where girlsat risk are of sexual exploitation, including in exchange food, for money or shelter. and CentralIn Africa, West of women where 42% marriedare before the of girls age of 70% 18, enter primary school complete but only 36% lower-secondary education. Our recent study shows that while girls’ education and poverty can During the Sierra Leone Ebola crisis, there was an increase in teenage pregnancy in some areas of up to 65%. prevent child marriageprevent is predicted to result in an million childrenadditional being married 13 over the next decade. that COVID-19 restrictionsthat COVID-19 on its services could meanmillion 3 additional unintended pregnancies, 2.7 million unsafe abortions pregnancy- and 11,000 related deaths. Even in humanitarian 57 56 clubs reopen? two main concerns, especially girls: for when will school reopen they so can go back there? And when will sexual and reproductive health What girls in the want DRC working are withWe leaders local and community structures in the Democratic Republic to of Congo address (DRC) issues of gender-based violence within the context and to appropriate make of COVID-19 adjustments to referral pathways. Our hotline is receiving a high number of calls highlighting girls. After the crisis, school enrolment rates fell by only 8% in areas where the classes had taken place, invillages compared that with had notreceived 16% the intervention. cases of domestic violence three every for months that is lockdown extended. to distance themselves from their abusers as well as to access external support. Shockingly, the UN Population Fund expects million additional 15 reproductive health to and how use pads. Save the Childrenis womenproviding and girls with these kits in many countries. GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE Gender-based violence exists in society every worldwide and is exacerbated in emergencies. School closures can girls leave exposed to risks of violence and abuse by limiting survivors’ ability hygiene kits inhome take packs must be part of the response. In addition to menstrual pads and soap, these kits should also basic provide information on Frequently girls access menstrual hygiene products through school, enabling them to manage their periods and keep coming to school. During school closures alternative distributions of menstrual violence as adults, and girls who witness violence reproductive health services frequently are diverted and options safe for reporting reduced. Distance learning programmes and protection services should violence take against girls and women into account within their planning and implementation. Witnessing intimatepartner violence in the home causes immediate and long-lasting harm to children. Boys who in a household live where violence takes to more likely are place perpetuate settings, gender-based violence and sexual and 24 SAVE OUR EDUCATION Kadiatu, 18, Sierra Leone 18,Kadiatu, Sierra be so lucky.” safely such ayoung at Iworry age. for some of children might these because not they Iwasallowed lucky birth give to make it. us to we stop need to tell to mistakes, these them coming up now, should they not make same the who mistakes we made. parents the And do not they home get likelyWhat at will they get ‘big the from man’ on acorner. For those going are same through the [now]. thing girls “Some need money. no Girls There food. is so I should I’mme that find abig ways girl, of bringing money in family.” feed to the I even hunger. the from got blurred vision Iasked When my mother for she food, would tell “My family and Iwere desperate,” family. aged 13, just off pregnant, she became from aboy abetter with in Sierra Leone, outbreak Ebola the During mud sheets. and metal corrugated with Kadiatu, built homes 18, lives of makeshift community fishing populated in adensely TOO TOO MUCH YOUNG says Kadiatu.

“We hardly had enough money for food. PHOTO: BEN WHITE/SAVE THE CHILDREN THE WHITE/SAVE BEN PHOTO: 2 KEEP LEARNING ALIVE 25

PHOTO: HURRAS NETWORK/SAVE THE CHILDREN

Save the Children 64 Governments and agencies 65 their parents to different or moved locations due to changes in family circumstances, this put them at risk of various forms of abuse. As children with disabilities may need additional comparedcare with other children, families who notare used to having a child with disabilities at home full-time may struggle, which can put the child at risk of abuse, neglect and violence. Abrupt and unforeseen changes in primary caregivers and safety networks can causefurther psychological harm to the child. provided essentialprovided psychosocial supportto children to help them their from recover experiences during the Ebola crisis, referring children further for assistancewhere necessary, protection andprovided and supportto children who lost their caregivers. In many low-income countries children cared are byfor grandparents who most are at risk of the virus, which may resultCOVID-19 in children experiencing both grief and neglect. During the pandemic, been with have we closely involved the development of an interagency technical note on supporting children at risk of separation or in alternative care. VIOLENCE AGAINST CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES must together identify vulnerable disabled children and young people most at risk and referthem to inclusive essential services.

63 In Somalia, which has the 62 fected countries– Guinea, Liberia and af - Sierra Leone. When children separated were from Being in school is one of the best ways to prevent FGM, both by keeping girls safe and also through specialist support mechanisms. CHILDRENSEPARATED AND THOSE CAREGIVERS LOST WHO HAVE During the Ebola Africa, crisis in West more than 30,000 children orphaned were in the three most and informed decisions about her body. It is vital that protection and sexual and reproductive health services response. remain central to the COVID-19 Every girl and woman should the have autonomy and necessary knowledge to be able to free make in north-west Syria. When he was 5, his home was hit by shelling and he was injured by shrapnel in his stomach and in his foot. The family was displaced and had to move from one displacement camp to another. They are now living in a camp area in Idlib province. Maher, 8, is from a village mutilation (FGM). FEMALE MUTILATION GENITAL The United Nations Population Fund has warned that the pandemic could lead to an extra 2 million girls worldwide being cut in the next decade as the crisis halts global efforts to end female genital in communities of the dangers of FGM. world’s highest FGMworld’s rate of 98%, Plan International has reported that families taking are advantage of school closures to carry out FGM that so the girls which can weeks. take the At timehave to recover, same time the economic downturn in the country has spurred cutterscaused by COVID-19 to tout morefor business, while restrictions on movement during it make lockdown harder to awareness raise 26 SAVE OUR EDUCATION Development, 15-year-old students consistently consistently students 15-year-old Development, and Cooperation for Economic Organisation the by out carried Further, astudy in five years. 7.7 to over of gap equivalent –alearning years is this learning, of quality for the adjusted is 18. age However, by school secondary this if and primary pre-primary, of years 12.8 complete to expect can achild average, On students. among outcomes learning poor in low is results and education of quality The disabilities. with children including children, marginalised most the of schools in inclusion of lack the to due and science. and maths average below reading, across performed Development Centres. Development and Care Childhood Early the at registered children for Kosovo in areas rural ten in supplies hygienic and toys material, teaching with packages 323 delivered Children the Save 4–15-year-olds are out of school. of are out 4–15-year-olds Kosovo, in 5% mandatory of and nearly free being education Despite budget. education insufficient an and performance teacher poor infrastructure, school sufficient of alack is there country, the Across challenges. face many Kosovo in to system continues education the years, recent in improvements some Despite KOSOVO ON SPOTLIGHT to reach their full potential. full their reach to chance the children denies and education, their completing before out drop to children cause 67 The low quality of learning can can learning of low The quality 66 This is often often is This children can continue to learn, the Ministry of of Ministry the learn, to continue can children that ensure to order In disease. the of spread the mitigate were to closed institutions education Kosovo all 13 this, on Following 2020. March COVID-19 of case in first The confirmed was teachers. and assistants trained and transportation, facilities, disability-friendly of alack and disabilities, with people stigmatise that norms social to due school from excluded be can disabilities with duty-bearers. and key experts to concerns voice and their learn to aspace with provide children to platform online develop an to company a technology with We learning. have home partnered with caregivers and children support to platforms learning distance inclusive and early support to platforms online launch develop and to UNICEF and Children the Save with partnered Education denied their right to an education. an to right their denied school in not disabilities with children 38,000 with were school, in disabilities with children 5,300 2019, just In that disabilities. estimated was it with for children case the not is this improved, Kosovo across rates enrolment have Although continued on next page next on continued 68

Children Children PHOTO: SAVE THE CHILDREN THE SAVE PHOTO: 2 KEEP LEARNING ALIVE 27 In Thailand of 46% 70 In recent surveys by Save the 69 And in Lebanon, our recent survey 71 Initial rapid assessments rights of children’s 72 children and young people reported they have experienced stress caused by being quarantined in their houses. levels of happiness.levels up of children to found 65% to were struggle with boredom and feelings ofisolation as a result of and school closures. COVID-19 Children of more than 6,000 children and parents in the USA, Germany, Finland, Spain and the UK, found that 40% years of children aged 15–18 old thatsaid the situation is taking a toll on their mental health. we conductedwe in Bangladesh indicate a similar trend in the increase of corporal punishment in the home. activities.School closures will affect the most disadvantaged children, widening existing learning inequalities. Already, the learning gap between the poorest and richest students is 1.5 years of schooling. As students from poorer backgrounds to more likely are experience challenges in accessing distancelearning tools during the pandemic, this learning gap is set to increase.

continued PHOTO: ETINOSA YVONNE/SAVE THE CHILDREN THE YVONNE/SAVE ETINOSA PHOTO:

disruptionof education the for most marginalised children, especially children with disabilities, whooften need support from caregivers to access platforms and online for education equipment, including cuts. power In addition, a lack of technological capacity or knowledge among teachers and parents contributes to the Despite these efforts, the most marginalised children continue to miss out on education, often due to a lack of internet access and SPOTLIGHT ON KOSOVO SPOTLIGHT ON KOSOVO Before the pandemic Save the Children carried out our HEART programme in a child-friendly space in Northern Nigeria. have adaptedWe this programme for the home. reported higher of isolation levels and lower could lead to negative mental health consequences such as anxiety and depression, including among children and young people. Children respond to stress in different ways.Common responses include difﬁculties sleeping, bed-wetting, stomach pain or headaches, fear of being left alone, becoming angry or withdrawn, and feelings of uncertainty, loss fear, and sadness. During the Ebola pandemic in Sierra Leone, children School closures, fear of COVID-19, and the social School closures, fear of COVID-19, and economic disruptions that accompany the pandemic will increase stress within the family and MENTAL HEALTH AND HEALTH WELLBEINGMENTAL 28 SAVE OUR EDUCATION transferred to children and can have a noticeable have can anoticeable and children to transferred is frustration and own stress how their recognise to supported be should caregivers female and Male wellbeing and learning and wellbeing children’s COVID-19during Supporting closures: school Collaborative’s MHPSS including including tools, and guidance produced has Children the Save contributed educational resources for teachers, for teachers, resources educational contributed We for referrals. have opportunity the and counsellors professional with consultations phone for opportunity the given be also will caregivers and Parents parenting. positive and stress child self-care, education, social-emotional discuss to caregivers and parents contact to messages phone mobile interactive use then will They aid. ﬁrst psychosocial in staff care development and childhood early frontline training by wellbeing caregivers’ and parents’ We are supporting Bangladesh in children young of parents Supporting take part. to others encourage to themselves children with recorded radio and local and national on are broadcast and cost, no at and homes small in done be to designed are activities The lockdown. during relieve stress help to alone or together do to caregivers and for children activities short with series aradio into Arts) the through Education and (Healing HEART programme learning emotional social our we adapted lockdown, have also during homes within levels increase stress As COVID-19.about children young inform and engage to messages and songs includes and settlements, refugee and areas rural in for use translated being is series The caregivers. or parents their with together do to olds year six to for three designed activities counting and reading basic and called We Uganda in aradio series have produced radio through children young Reaching Stress Busters Stress Ready to Learn to Ready . 74 ,

73 with play-based learning learning play-based with Tips for parents and caregivers caregivers and for parents Tips and helped to develop the develop the to helped and

through peer-to-peer campaigns. Albania’s campaigns. peer-to-peer through support, health mental on own campaigning their do to We people young have facilitated Georgia and Albania in support health mental youth Peer-to-peer hub. materials e-learning national the to caregivers and parents the fires and their own futures. own futures. their and fires the on change climate of effects the with associated and anxiety education, disrupted members, family from separation homes, their from displacement included for many which experiences, distressing their process to support psychosocial access to unable children many left closures School period. over same the flooding major or drought extended suffered also communities these of Many 2019–20. of bushfires Summer’ ‘Black unprecedented the by were devastated that (online) communities in for delivery virtual Hope, of Journey recovery programme, post-disaster We Children’s the Save are adapting in Australia in children for Hope of Journey lockdown. during home well at mentally and busy are keeping how they about children other with videos sharing been have Georgia in network achild-led of members other, each and support to #ProductiveAtHome campaign the using have been network youth caregivers encourages the use of stress reduction reduction stress of use the encourages caregivers for support any that behaviour. important is It and children’s learning their on wellbeing, effect the youngest learners during this time of adversity. adversity. of time this during learners youngest the for are critical engagement for parental support and learning, play-based learning, emotional and Social services. social other or vouchers cash opportunities, livelihood to them links and techniques COVID-19. and bushfires the of harm compounding the children’s recovery from support face to to face delivered be also will Hope of Journey pandemic, the following reopen schools As - sc hool hool 2 KEEP LEARNING ALIVE 29

PHOTO: SAVE THE CHILDREN This 84 continued on next page Schoolchildren across 85 83 rate among Syrian refugees is officially – 6% though this figure is thought to be a significant underestimate as many cases unregistered are in Lebanese courts. To attempt to combatTo these problems,the government of Lebanon is enrolling refugees in public schools using a two-shift system, with an afternoon shift specifically refugee for and non-Lebanese the economic children. However, crisis and the public protest that has gripped the country since October added have to 2019 the problem, with children previously enrolled in private schools being to the moved state system, increasing the burden on state schools. Schools closed nationwide were in early March affecting2020 in more response to COVID-19, than 1,360,000 learners. Schools will remain closed until with theend of the academic year, official exams cancelled. could result in refugees being to a later moved shift, or see them dropout altogether. the country had already lost two months of this school year in October due and November 2019 to nationwide protests, meaning that they have half oflost their over school year.

79 77

81 The child marriage 82 There more than are 78 Education is highly privatised 75 Public schools in Lebanon suffer from 69% of 6–14-year-olds 69% and 22% of 76 80 15–17-year-olds are enrolled are in school. 15–17-year-olds estimate around 18,000 young Syrian refugees preventing them engagedare in child labour, from accessing education. Refugee children often are out of school because of extreme poverty, inability to afford transport costs, lack of remedial classes, bullying and discrimination. Unofficial figures school: More than half of these children out are of 660,000 school-age Syrian refugees in Lebanon. school-aged children – often children from the poorest families and refugees – enrolled in public schools. across the country, with than fewer a third of distancing measures. have access to basic learning materials during this crisis while practising physical Save the Children’s teams in Bekaa, Lebanon, are distributing learning kits to ensure children The weak public school system was not equipped to handle the influx of refugees from Syria into the country. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic,Prior to the school systems COVID-19 across Lebanon already weak, were with an out-of-school rate primary for education of 11%, of primaryand only 52% children continuing into secondary school. SPOTLIGHT ON LEBANON under-qualified teaching staff and an inadequate learning environment and equipment, that so schooling the for poorest children is insufficient. 30 SAVE OUR EDUCATION COVID-19 closures. school of because meals school on out are missing (47%352 globally girls) children million them of that World estimates The Programme Food school. at potential their fulfil to energy the have from hunger, free they them ensuring well as as keeping children, vulnerable most for the a lifeline are usually school provided at snacks and Meals PROGRAMMES FEEDING SCHOOL CONTINUE is not available. not is feeding school alternative on 134 data countries In feeding. school regular of reach enormous the replace scale to sufficient at rolled out be However, will methods. these that unlikely is it 11 and mixed families using to countries transfers cash 11 making rations, countries take-home providing countries 50 with meals, school with children reach to solutions alternative in brought their economic difficulties. economic their ease and try to labour child and marriage child to turn will families that and school to return not will children many that possible is it finances, families’ hits pandemic the As behind. left be will aresult as who children, refugee available to made been not has learning distance online that reported been Further, has it access are missing out on their education. their on out are missing access have not internet do who children and online, studying in difficulties reported surveyed children however, all that found study Children the aSave – learning allow to for distance curriculum online an developed has government Lebanese The lunchbox rations. We prepared food distribution We distribution food rations. lunchbox prepared take-home 15-day, we have distributed associations, parent–teacher through working schools, At 300 closures. school during home taken be could rations feeding school ensure to policy emergency an action to Education of Ministry the worked Children with the Save Guatemala in rations food ‘lunchbox’ Distributing LEBANON ON SPOTLIGHT 88

87 72 countries have countries 72 continued 86

home schooling. home on tips and messages regular get to students and for caregivers groups WhatsApp established We period. have this also during for children learning of form some ensure to practices remote-teaching on members staff and teachers training and kits learning remote distributing includes This children. out-of-school and students, school-attending children, pre-school with activities providing learning by education in disruption this to responding is Children the Save children do not go hungry. go not do children make sure to programmes feeding school existing adapting same, the are now doing Cluster Education the of members Other protocols. COVID-19 speciﬁc and handling prevention food safe on training received staff and procedures, standard hygiene and for health protocols decide. to state each to left been –has meals or grains uncooked delivering or transfers cash –by delivered be will how this but feeding, school alternative with children school-aged vulnerable reach to committed has government central The them. receiving are longer no boys and girls million 90 world; now, closures, the in school of aresult as programme feeding school biggest the has India “Before the COVID-19, the school again soon.” again has stopped. I hope it will start now the school feeding programme fed us meals each school day, but region of Ethiopia of region Somali the Nassir, in grade student 12, 4th 89

2 KEEP LEARNING ALIVE 31

Aldrin is a construction worker inthe Philippines but because of the COVID-19 quarantine, his work has stopped leaving the family without a source of income. Save the Children provided the family with a hygiene kit, food packs and child-friendly learning materials. rch 2020, been have we distributing Ma - ocedures developed to were guide food r children at primary school. Save the Children was asked by the Minister of Education to distribute take-home rations as part of the LEARN (Liberia Empowerment through Attendance, Reading, and Nutrition) project, funded by the United States Department of Agriculture under its Food Education for programme. LEARN targets 220 schools with interventions school for feeding. Distributing food during school closures in Zambia and Liberia with worked the governmentWe of Zambia to adapt the existing school feeding programmes that respond to droughts, distributing food rations to homes. Standard operating p distributions to ensure physical distancing and safe distribution, with hand washing facilities andprovided protective personal equipment given to food distributors. schools with 214 41,000 children receive food rations on a daily basis. In Liberia, after schools closed in were mid households withfood in four counties to 47,620 Save the Children has up scaled safe food distributions and cash transfers food for in multiple countries.

92 Stunting 90

Each percentage point drop globally in aggregated grossdomestic product is expected (GDP) to result in an additional 700,000 stunted children. In the Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, In the Bazar, Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bangladesh, the of temporary closure learning centres not only means children not are learning, but many will not be receiving critical daily, healthy, safe and nutritious meals. Lack of access to alternative school meals a devastating could have impact on the development of the most vulnerable children, who harder are to reach and may have already experienced stunting. While achieving good nutrition requires a multisectoral response, children can be helped to hunger theiravoid and improve diets through complementary interventions such as healthy school meals, nutrition education and cash transfers. They can also healthier develop food practices at school and extend these to their families and communities. School feeding programmes frequently are a vital component poor in how families meet their needs. usually rely. were classiﬁedwere as ‘wasting’ and these numbers are expected rapidly as to grow a result of children missing out on daily school meals on which they not only affects health, a child’s making them more susceptible to disease and infection, but also impairs their mental and physical development – meaning children who suffer from stunting less are likely theirto achieve full cognitive potential as adults. million children 47 Globally, before COVID-19, PHOTO: LEI TAPANG/SAVE THE CHILDREN THE TAPANG/SAVE LEI PHOTO: 32 SAVE OUR EDUCATION

PHOTO: MARCELA CAMPOS/SAVE THE CHILDREN health of Colombians, in harmony with the right right the with harmony in Colombians, of health the preserving of purpose the with territory, national the throughout calendar academic the of modification the announced government the began, quarantine mandatory the When 1.4% GDP. of – pesos Colombian 14.8package of trillion stimulus afiscal announced government The quarantine. amandatory imposed and country’s the closed borders emergency, of astate declared It measures. response of set early an implemented government COVID-19 the to the response In crisis, go. way to along still is there people, young and children for rural opportunities educational better creating in progress some made has Colombia While education. basic and childhood for early achieveto objectives set insufficient is funding public but years recent in priority government astated been has Education Colombians. returned and migrants Venezuelan to assistance humanitarian and services employment and health education, of provision the in practice good implementing and policy borders open an role adopting in leading a taken has Colombia country. the in arrived Venezuelans 1.8 had million approximately 2019, fromVenezuela; December by migrants of influx accelerating an received has Colombia COLOMBIA ON SPOTLIGHT protection. We are providing: protection. child and emergencies; in education hygiene; water, health; on and programmes sanitation deliver to continues Children the Save Education. and Health of Ministries both from support with process this lead will Territorial considered. be governors will safety monitor for how to plans phase, preparation and planning this Through for children. school to return progressive and gradual allow for asafe, will that methods and home from continued be can education ensure to ways outlines document The response. its of stage next the of part as guidance of aset developed has Education of Ministry the practices, education distance and virtual of months three Following education. to • • • •

and loudspeakers). and WhatsApp, as such networks messaging instant podcasts, radio channels, through delivered information (this includes TeamUp the programme adapting through pl home at education health and in spaces learning fo materials training virtual to access with along arithmetic), and writing reading, on guid formation on the importance of hygiene hygiene of importance the on formation ay- and movement-based activities activities movement-based and ay- od kits to children who attend temporary temporary attend who children to kits od ebooks for teachers (including guidance guidance (including for teachers ebooks distance learning. distance for programmes these adapted have we pandemic the During teachers. to support and training provide and school at Spanish and maths in children support we Colombia In 2 KEEP LEARNING ALIVE 33

PHOTO: SONALI CHAKMA

93 the likelihood of conflict in sub-Saharan Africa. school infrastructure schools may prevent from safely reopening and increase the amount of time With a global recession as likely a result of the pandemic, the region may yet face more conflict and displacement. Access to safe, good-quality learning opportunities plays an importantin mitigating role the harmful impact of conflicton children, reducing the risk of violations such as sexual violence and recruitment into armed forces or armed groups. Finding additional means to protect and support the most vulnerable children and young people is an urgent priority. The of schools closure as a result of COVID-19 means that schools vacant at risk are of being used by a range of non-education actors. This may include the occupation use and/or of schools by non-state armed groups and the military, increasing the risk of armed attack. The resulting damage to job tojob support the family. care of her younger siblings of care her motherwhile looks a for mother a camp in siblings and Bangladesh. Bazar, Cox’s in They fled their home in Myanmar the of because to learn likes Kulsum violence. wants to to go and a school beindependent an can she so her mother the in like woman future. But has she to take Kulsum, 16, is a Rohingya is a Rohingya 16, Kulsum, withrefugee who lives her downturn can lead to of 5% a 0.5% increase in and limited access to learning opportunities. evidence suggestsFurther, that an economic Education from Attack found a systematic pattern of attacks on education countries,in 37 and militaryuse of schools and universities in countries,34 the last over years. five In June 2019, more than schools and Central9,290 Africa in West already closedwere due to insecurity, affecting 2 million children and 44,000 teachers. Millions of forcibly displaced people living are in overcrowded, under-resourced refugee and internal displacement sites with poor hygiene and sanitation facilities, and conflict-affected countries urgently required support to access a good quality education. Research by the Global Coalition to Protect CHILDREN CONFLICT AFFECTED BY AND DISPLACEMENT school closures,Even more before the COVID-19 than crisis million 75 children across the world’s 34 SAVE OUR EDUCATION the impact of COVID-19 of impact the children on on Policy Brief UN The school. of are out children being turned into de facto detention centres. centres. detention facto de into turned being camps displacement entail also may measures Such rights. their limiting arbitrarily affiliation, political or religious ethnic, their of basis the on stigma facing already those especially people, displaced targeting COVID-19 restrictions introduce to emergency the use may authorities the cases, some In critical. remains Declaration Schools Safe the Military Use Military the with line in re-opening, upon available for education be should and purposes, for military used be not should universities and Schools use. military from and attacks from are protected facilities educational and students that ensure they that fundamental is COVID-19, to response their on focus it countries As pandemic. global the during conflict to parties by destroyed or looted occupied, purposes, military for used being schools of risks potential the closure period. COVID-19 the during groups armed school into children of recruitment surge in expected an against campaign Call to Geneva and Umoja We with challenging. are working extremely response humanitarian the made (DRC) Congo of already Republic Democratic the in Ebola and conflict of combination The DRC in forces armed into recruited children in surge Expected pandemic. this during areas conflict in schools of use military any of prevention the call for strongly to Defence of Minister the to advocacy an letter initiated Declaration Schools Safe the of TechnicalNational Committee the Children, the Save of support the With Mali in schools safe for Calling Guidelines for Protecting Schools & Universities from from &Universities Schools for Protecting Guidelines . 95 Endorsement and implementation of of implementation and Endorsement 94 highlights highlights the COVID-19the response. in children migrant and displaced refugees, of inclusion for the advocating actively is Children Migrant and Separated Unaccompanied, on Working Group Interagency National The Africa South in included be to children migrant and refugee for Push materials. play and kits food kits, hygiene with provided children have teams Our centres. quarantine in held been have who and States, United the and countries neighbouring from return forced to have been who families and We children have assisted Salvador El to return to forced children Supporting otherwise critical care, and to family reunification reunification family to and care, critical otherwise or life-saving to access including retained, be should measures restrictive to exemptions Humanitarian instruction. of language appropriate the in learning distance accessible through children’s these address needs must response education this And people. displaced internally and refugees to services education of distribution provide equal an necessary, where donors by supported governments, that important is It require help with everyday tasks. tasks. everyday with help require and others on dependent are highly who for people there as “among the most restrictive in the world.” the in restrictive most “among the as there actors for humanitarian environment operational the described Yemen adonor point: in acase is closure. school during learning of provide continuity to organisations humanitarian of ability the hamper may camps, displacement in working staff of safety the about concerns well as as supplies, learning of deliveries in delays and movement on Restrictions

96 2 KEEP LEARNING ALIVE 35

100 has resulted 101 OPT continued on next page In a Save the Children 99 There is a risk of school dropouts, 102 survey carried out Bank,in the West children cited military operations and settler-related incidents as barriers key to their education, due to the risk of injury, detention or disruption. The Israel-imposed blockade and violent conﬂicts often disrupt severely Palestinianchildren’s education, preventing them from learning. In schools damaged were by 12 airstrikes, 2019, affecting 9,000 children. The humanitarian situation in 29% of Palestiniansin over living below the poverty line. Fear of violence and harassment on the way to and from and at school can result in parents taking their children out of school, often disproportionately affecting girls. as families cannot afford basic education supplies 98 The shortage in 97

by the Israeli authorities more schools prevent being built, and many school structures have been demolished. It is estimated than 2,000 new classrooms needed are in East Jerusalem alone to keep up with demand. Education infrastructure across OPT lacks funding and suffers from a shortage of schools and classrooms. Strict building restrictions imposed Prior to the COVID-19 outbreak,Prior to the the COVID-19 education system in the occupied Palestinian territory(OPT) was weak. the primary Across OPT, out-of-school rate is 6%, rising secondary. lower for to 10% educationWeak infrastructure, conflict and violence, and high rates of poverty among are the factors preventing children from realising their right to a safe, good quality education. SPOTLIGHT ON THE OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY SPOTLIGHT ON THE OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY Gaza having to operate in double or triple shifts, learning hours.reducingchildren’s classrooms has resulted in two-thirds of schools in A picture drawn by Rania, 16, illustrating her experience of living through conflict in the occupied Palestinian territory. PHOTO: ALESSANDRA SANGUINETTI/SAVE THE CHILDREN THE SANGUINETTI/SAVE ALESSANDRA PHOTO: 36 SAVE OUR EDUCATION labour to reduce their economic burden. The The burden. economic their reduce to labour child and marriage child to resort families some Further, fromschool. and to costs transport and urban and camp areas, camp and urban in common 15%, is rate most is marriage child children, providing hygiene kits and recreational recreational and kits hygiene providing children, affected and vulnerable most the of needs immediate the We meet to response. have helped Education’s of Ministry the support to partners with working plan, response humanitarian coordinated akey role the taken in has Children the Save closure, school the to response In support. psychosocial and health mental and exams, learning, distance on issues creating Gaza, and West Bank the across coordinated not is response the girls. of oppression the and displacement poverty, by TERRITORY PALESTINIAN OCCUPIED THE ON SPOTLIGHT all grades. for lessons include that radio broadcasts and portal e-learning online an both launched has for COVID-19, Plan Response National the and in learning distance included has Education of Ministry the learning, keep to children support to response, In children. 1,430,000 affected has It 2,017 kindergartens. with along Gaza, in 737 and West are the in Bank 2,300 which, of closure 3,037 of the schools, includes This OPT in COVID-19Following confirmed being cases , all schools were closed in early March. March. were early in closed , all schools 104

105 However, that are concerns there 103 and is often driven driven often is and to children most in need. in most children to laptops and kits education stationery, providing and centres, quarantine in children to materials selﬁe during the COVID-19 lockdown. COVID-19 the during selﬁe this took She Ma’an. partner our and Children the Save by run programmes attends Mariam ones. loved her see and school to return to hopes and dead the of city the like world the made has COVID-19 says She family. her with territory Palestinian occupied the in lives 14, Mariam,

continued PHOTO: SAVE THE CHILDREN THE SAVE PHOTO: 2 KEEP LEARNING ALIVE 37

CREDIT: SAMI JASSAR/SAVE THE CHILDREN , including digital and school staff during and . These programmes should support support for parents’ and teachers’ roles in distance learning programmes through developing and promoting tips, resources and activities. , ensuring that providers of specialist social services and mental health to children who normally rely on school meals – through take-home rations, continued payment and incentives of teachers vide food most marginalised children, including girls, the youngest children, children with sure that child protection reporting and referral systems be can adapted for ovide sexual and reproductive health and rights programming which includes the sure thesure sure thatsure distance learning strategies include ovide effective,ovide ﬂexible and inclusive and psychosocial support services adequate have equipment to support children if needed. times of school closure handwashing to children. Shaif, our Coordinator for Emergency Child Programmes in Yemen, demonstrates addressing stigma and targeting gender-based violence. En En after school closures to retain existing teachers. Ensure teachers adequately are supported and trained to support distance learning programming with the right resources and guidance. Pr safe distribution of menstrual hygiene kits to girls, as well promoting empowerment, the disabilities, internally displaced children and refugees early learning, mental health and psychosocial support, child protection and public health objectives, and address harmful gender norms. En children’s learning home at Pro vouchers or cash schemes. Pr learning, interactive instruction radio and printed learning materials, with a focus on reaching

• • • • • Recommendations Keep learning alive during school closure through inclusive distance learning: • 3 Prepare for a safe return to school

While we must remain mindful of the risks presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, it is essential that children are able to get back to school and to resume learning as soon as they can do so safely. Balanced decision-making is needed to consider, on one hand, the risks school closures pose to children’s learning, wellbeing and health and on the other, the potential risks to children in the process of reopening schools.

Some countries are tentatively reopening their to prepare for possible future closures is essential. school doors to children again. However, as of Interest in going back to school may be much lower mid-May 2020, 100 countries had not yet announced for vulnerable or struggling children and young a date for schools to reopen, 65 had plans for people if they feel they will not be able to catch up partial or full reopening, while 32 will end the and if schools do not offer extensive support for academic year online.106 Many learners around accelerated learning. the world will end the school year early without To assess the risks that affect children in their own returning to school. This means that when children context, all education authorities should continue to: return they will have missed many months of • adhere to the Guidance for COVID-19 Prevention schooling and will experience lost learning. and Control in Schools,107 released by UNICEF, the Governments and the international community World Health Organization and the International need to plan now for the safe reopening of schools. Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Where schools have already reopened, ongoing Societies, and endorsed by the Inter-Agency support to mitigate the impact of closures and Standing Committee

“I miss learning, writing notes from the blackboard and swinging from the muzande [swing] at break time. When school reopens I will be happy to learn with my friends again and play together at the odebe [child-friendly space].” Florence, 10, lives in a refugee settlement in Uganda. In the photo, Florence receives a home learning kit.

38 PHOTO: EDITOR ASABA/SAVE THE CHILDREN 3 PREPARE FOR A SAFE RETURN TO SCHOOL 39 110 : School d groups, child : Engage the le - : The school reopening Safe Back to School: A practitioner’s guide Source: ole school community ild on existing structures ild back resilient rk with school administration, local nsider the different learning, protection and ovide supportovide and information to teachers rget the most marginalised groups of children, protective. By applying lessons learned from governments and whole school COVID-19, communities can better prepare themselves and reduce risks of future crises related to health, to natural and everyday hazards, and to violence and conﬂict. Wh whole school community – including children, caregivers, teachers, school administration, the community local and government local – in an inclusive and accessiblestages at all way of the school reopening process. Bu communities should capitalise on their many existing capacities during the school reopening process. These may be existing clubs, studentchildren’s councils, Parent Associations,Teacher youth protection committees or family networks. Bu opportunityanprocess provides strengthento existing education, health, protection and disaster preparedness systems, making them more accessible, inclusive, participatory and development. wo government and communities to ensure schools safe spaces;are ta especially girls, displaced children and children with disabilities, in order to reduce school dropout inclusion and improve co wellbeing needs of children and put plans in place to up make lost for learning – including blended learning during the phased return pr around safety, wellbeing and professional

5. 6. consideration the wider of package interventions, such as physical distancing, home quarantine and the preparedness of the school to reopen. There areas four key are that governments need to address in order children for to be able to return to school and continue learning: • • • • 4. : OVID-19 has OVID-19 Safe Back to : C

108 109 . : Children a right have to Technical Note: ProtectionTechnical Children of ldren and young people’s nder, inclusionnder, and accessibility Ge factors. All efforts during school reopening must be inclusive and accessible all for children. This is a unique opportunity to bring childrenall – returning students and children previously out of education – into school. dissemination of accurate information. Children may barriers face different or have needs in returning to school because of age, disability, ethnicity,gender, refugee/asylum- seeker status, socioeconomic status, or other be heard in processes that affect them and should be considered fully-ﬂedged actors in decision-making. Child participation should be inclusive and accessible all for people can play a key children. Young in communityrole mobilisation and in prepare reopening, for a coordinated and integrated approach iscritical to address holistic needs.children’s Chi participation An integrated approach a multi-faceted rights, impact on children’s affecting education, protection, MHPSS, health, nutrition and other sectors. As schools ening of schools.

rotection Area ofResponsibility uring the COVID-19 Pandemic uring the COVID-19 3. 2. 1. KEY PRINCIPLES FOR SAFE RETURN SCHOOL TO review thereview d use the Global Education Cluster/Global Child P School: A practitioner’s guide op -

• • re Governmentdecisions on school openings must be guided by ministries of health and education, and health partners. Decisions must be based on reliable public health information that takes into their lives. own of teachers The voice is also critical within this process and will ensure more motivated and engaged teachers to support successful Children also a right have to be heard in processes that affect them and should be considered fully- ﬂedged actors in decision-making, particularly in regard to returning safely to school. This includes providing support girls’ for safe and meaningful participation and consultation in decisions all about 40 SAVE OUR EDUCATION • • place were: in put measures the of Some 2020. April in children youngest for the reopened schools Denmark, In them. around and in personnel military of presence the given sites, these targeting military the around a growing concern also is There country. the across centres isolation and sites quarantine as repurposed have been Yemen, In schools for learning. used be can they before disinfection proper undergo must pandemic the during facilities treatment or quarantine as used have been that schools addition, In school. are at safe teachers and children that ensure to place in put be to need will measures of number A life. school normal to areturn mean not will reopening school that is clear is What transmission. of risks on evidence insufﬁcient currently is there and limited still is virus this of understanding Our apriority. be must virus the of spread the of control and prevention continued and to, return to spaces safe be to need schools foremost, and First SPACES SAFE ARE SCHOOLS ENSURE

“What should be done at my school after COVID-19 to ensure that we tents, to divide children into smaller groups smaller into children divide to tents, ha offs) drop school around (ie, school to return can how children cl more rooms to reduce the numbers of students in the classrooms.” the in students of numbers the reduce to rooms more should increase staff, ensure that the school has water, and build are all protected? Preventative measures must be maintained. They communications to students prior to school school to prior students to communications Clear plan. reopening school improveand the problems potential identify routines, daily in changes test helps reopening school to prior simulations conducting that indicate headmasters with interviews from gained insights Preliminary process. reopening the document to China in Children the Save by supported schools in research We of a qualitative piece are conducting China in reopening school into A glimpse Teresa, Mozambique 14, Province, Manica ear guidelines and information for parents on on for parents information and guidelines ear nd-washing stations and extra rooms, such as as such rooms, extra and stations nd-washing • • ARE ACCESSIBLE TO AT ALL ACCESSIBLE SCHOOL ARE FACILITIES HYGIENE HEALTH AND ENSURE to. return to children were for safe schools that provideand reassurance for reopenings buy-in build to teachers and parents with for engagement plan astrong also was There • had also been enhanced. been also had staff and teachers school among spirit team that COVID-19, of aresult as strengthened and been had families and schools between relationship the that reported principal school one example for outcomes: positive are identifying schools Some compliance. ensure to helpful be to found also was routine the in changes on reopening sub-Saharan Africa had any hand-washing facilities. hand-washing any had Africa sub-Saharan water and soap). and water with facility ahand-washing (deﬁned as services hygiene have basic to 53% were reported schools of 2016, –in only facilities have not sufﬁcient do schools many But virus. the of spread prevent the help that hygiene, good and hand-washing as such practices, good and messages health spread can Schools ratios of learners to hand-washing stations, stations, hand-washing to learners of ratios including standards, national to adhere to facilities hand-washing increase should Governments not able to wash their hands properly. hands their wash to able not are million 900 around and school at toilets decent have not do 620 children million that means This

physical distancing physical pl ﬁxed groups in and together a ma the day. day. the sh aygrounds divided to provide guidance on on provide guidance to divided aygrounds orter school days, allowing two shifts through through shifts two allowing days, school orter ximum number of children that can be be can that children of number ximum 111 Less than a quarter of schools in in schools of aquarter than Less 113 112

PHOTO: SOPHIE HAMANDISHE/SAVE THE CHILDREN

3 PREPARE FOR THE SAFE RETURN TO SCHOOL 41 115 114 send their children back to school. It meant that schools could reopen before Ebola was totally eradicated. Menstrual hygiene materials also are essential sanitationcomponents and hygiene of water, (WASH) kits. Girls and female staff need access to menstrual hygiene materials and provision for their non-infectious need disposal. to be kept Toilets clean, lockable from the inside, and sex-segregated. Hand-washing stations should be all for available and accessible children for with disabilities. in China and Vietnam. All these countries have solid school health policies and structures to build these activities on. In Burkina 100 provided Faso, have schools we with soap, hand sanitiser and distributed 20,000 masks children for resuming school.

endly designs, and accessible fri - ropriate, low-cost, low-maintenance app mmunicated focus on improving in-school - co - We are providing similar are supplies to schoolsWe information, education and communication materials. Children will play an active in role promoting and monitoring safe practices. Supporting safe hygiene in schools In the Philippines, Save the Children is supporting schools to prepare reopening, for through hand-washingproviding facilities, hygiene supplies, cleaning and disinfection kits, and facilities, with eco hygiene practices and disinfection. Evidence from school reopening after the Ebola crisis in Sierra Leone demonstrated that a well hygiene practices – including training teachers – appeared effective in encouraging parents to to children with disabilities. educational Teachers, and cleaning staff should be trained in school toilets and drinking water stations. These should be age area who received hygiene kits hygiene whoarea received from the Children. Save Shamiso, 10, Zimbabwe 10, Shamiso, Shamiso her young Eddie brother and their rural from among children 650 are do notdo forget what learnedI at school.” The only time I go out is when my my when is out go I time only The really I shops. the to me sends mother go cannot we that bad It’s school. miss home at stay to have we but school to sure make I sick. get not do we that so I that so home at work school my do I soap and water, I stay indoors, I also also I indoors, stay I water, and soap out. go to have I when mask a wear Coronavirus. I wash my hands with with hands my wash I Coronavirus. “I know how to protect myself from from myself protect to how know “I 42 SAVE OUR EDUCATION their communities safe (see safe communities their and children educators, keep to considerations speciﬁc require may settings camp-like and camps in spaces learning and schools Reopening challenging. extremely be often will distancing physical where camps, in living children displaced internally and for refugee risks are particular There apart. 1–2 metres children keep to possible be not may simply it that mean classrooms crowded 120 as large Small, as be can children. sizes class contexts refugee some in and children for 40 responsible is teacher each countries low-income in meanwhile 13 per teacher average one students; of have an schools primary European impossible. near is communities and schools in distancing physical However, contexts, many in that we know teachers. older as so, such do they if risk greater at be will health whose or virus, the catching of risk greater at be may who those –including staff education other and teachers among crucially, and, children among virus the of spread prevent the help to is This schools. in including strategy, health apublic remain to need will distancing physical vaccine, no is there date to and present still is virus the aworld in where reopen schools As virus. the of spread prevent to the Organization World the by Health measures recommended the of one is people between distance physical Keeping DISTANCING PHYSICAL PROTOCOLS PLACE ON IN PUT equipment. hygiene with them resource help to and messages health public pandemic vital with schools remote reach to networks community strong our using is Children the Save advice. government to link only the be may and families for these source information of are avital –schools guidance health public to access limited have very families and children countries some In know if they are feeling unwell. Staff construct construct Staff unwell. are feeling they if know teacher the letting and washing hand distancing, physical of importance the children teaching – messages health public deliver to schools 13 visited has elementary Education, of Division Provincial Sepik East the with partnership in Children, the Save Guinea, New Papua In return for prepare Papua in Guinea New schools Helping Safe Back to School: A School: to Back Safe return. to for children safe schools making of part as school for the procured are then materials Those are missing. WASH materials other any if fromteachers out ﬁnd and school, the to Tapa Tippy (a hands teachers include: include: teachers and students of safety for the distancing physical implement to use can schools that Strategies shift. triple or adouble adopted have already crowded, schools classrooms and are oversubscribed schools • • postponed because of the pandemic. the of because postponed been has date court Their States. United the in asylum political of search in family her with Mexico to Guatemala from came She washing. hand good demonstrates 10, María, practitioner’s guide practitioner’s • •

pr pr re day school co practitioner’s guide practitioner’s (see measures distancing physical about students and personnel school equipment share to need not do students ducing or amending class sizes class amending or ducing oviding clear guidance and information to to information and guidance clear oviding so that supplies school additional oviding nsidering staggered schedules within the the within schedules staggered nsidering ). 116 ). In many crisis settings where where settings crisis many In - 117 fre e tap), which is gifted e tap), gifted is which

Safe Back to School: A School: to Back Safe PHOTO: SAVE THE CHILDREN THE SAVE PHOTO: 3 PREPARE FOR A SAFE RETURN TO SCHOOL 43

PHOTO: RAJAN ZAVERI/SAVE THE CHILDREN

121 continued on next page 122 Further, teachersFurther, often do adequate not have qualiﬁcations, and there often are gaps in teaching positions of education. levels at all The poor standards of education and school facilities affect learning and levels dropout children’s rates. Learning assessments taken at the end of primary school indicate of children 54% do not minimumachieve proﬁciency in literacy levels and numeracy. The standard of public education in India is weak. Schools lack basic facilities, including functional computers, appropriate facilitiesWASH and access to menstrual hygiene management, along with weak school management systems.

118 and 120 Issues such as child marriage, child 119 including those from the castes lowest and tribes, from religious minority groups, and girls, do annot equal have chance of completing their education. Dropout rates among these groups high.are But big challenges remain. Children from the most deprived and marginalised communities, worker. Nani now attends regularly instead of working in the cotton and chilli fields. Nani, 10, in his classroom in a small rural village in Andhra Pradesh in southern India before the pandemic. He would have dropped out of school had it not beenfor the intervention of Pala, a Save the Children In India, the education system has made remarkable progress in enrolling children in schools with the enactment of the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009. SPOTLIGHT ON INDIA labour, girls engaged in domesticlabour, work financial constraints children prevent from attending school. 44 SAVE OUR EDUCATION are not put in place to ensure that the most most the that ensure place to in put are not measures adequate If school. in while learning be to likely not most and school, of out dropping of risk at most school, of out be likely to most the were children marginalised and poor pandemic, the Before return. not –may marginalised most and are poorest who those –particularly children many reopen, schools when that mean issues these All risk. ahealth remains virus the while school to children their sending of fearful be may others and schooling, involved fees with the afford to able be not may families Some forced marriage. and pregnancy teenage violence, gender-based of risk face increased an Girls finances. family increase help to labour child forced or into responsibilities caregiving extra take on to required be may they rise, the on is poverty we know when atime at – school of out while learning their disrupt may that risks face many children 2, Section in described As classroom. the to return not will children some that risk asignificant is there reopen, do schools When CHILDREN MARGINALISED BY TARGETING MOST THE DROPOUT SCHOOL REDUCE of students have access to smartphones. have to access students of 12.5% SPOTLIGHT ON INDIA INDIA ON SPOTLIGHT of urban households). 42%and urban of (14.9% households rural of internet, the to have access households Indian of 23.8% only for 2017–18 Report Survey that found Sample ANational learning. online access to are unable teachers and students many this, to adapted have schools some While learning. distance online to moving recommended government Indian the closure, this Following learners. 320 million than more affecting March, 24 since closed have been country the across Schools 2020. January 30 the on confirmed COVID-19 of case first The was India in education in India. in education in progress reversing thereby learning, to access on out miss –will areas live rural in and/or are poorest who those – often internet the have to not access do who Children 123 continued Further, only 124

• • is: Children the Save COVID-19 plan, response education our of To part as gap, digital this address will need to be made to ensure those children children those ensure to made be to need will efforts Special aresult. as out dropping and against discriminated being children some to lead not do distancing physical applying in challenges and space of lack that ensuring to paid be should attention Special lost. not is education to access universal on made progress that ensure to vital is This needed. are campaigns back-to-school community-led directed, nationally strong, reopen, schools As personnel. education and are place for in all students protocols safety COVID-19 right the and that health conﬁdent feel to needs community the school, to back children To their send to Ebola. parents motivate about concerns continued of because school to returning from children their prevented parents that found assessment an Liberia, In safety. their ensure to protocols strict of implementation the and schools of reopening the about know not did parents many crisis, Ebola the After CAMPAIGNS BACK TO SCHOOL reverse. into go but stall, only not will towards SDG4 progress learning, to return children of groups marginalised reopening of schools and other educational educational other and schools of reopening safe for the guidelines Further, we have drafted • • response to the most marginalised children. marginalised most the to response effective an ensure to networks, education-based with along government, the with advocating we lockdown, are also the Since India. in states across launched being is which institutions,

pr pr caregiving responsive and hygiene on gi pr reading buddies. buddies. reading activities household in learning early integrate howon to parents with videos sharing by solutions no-tech and low-tech using for children home at for use ving guidance to parents and caregivers caregivers and parents to guidance ving omoting mobile libraries and and libraries mobile omoting development childhood early omoting materials play and kits education oviding 3 PREPARE FOR A SAFE RETURN TO SCHOOL 45

PHOTO: NOUR WAHID/SAVE THE CHILDREN : reopening date; ale messagingale – sc - d messages – to ensure that children le - Facts about school reopening any steps that caregivers/children and young people must to take prepare reopening. for

with captioning, subtitles or sign language interpreter those for with hearing difficulties– and posters with images and simple text those for less Childrenliterate). and young people should the have opportunity to shape the campaigns themselves and participate in the activities. These should include key messages on the following: • will be supported by large through different channelsand including child return to school and to reassure caregivers and community members that schools safe are places their for children. This component focuses on community-based monitoring to identify and target outreach to vulnerable, marginalised, children in the community, including children who out were of closures. Outreachschool before the COVID-19 and mobilisation activities will be conducted at household, school, community and national levels, sharing tailored information and messages on school reopening children, for caregivers, teachers and policy decision-makers. This in the language local 125 , My Hero is You and distributed it to girls in our target areas. Back to School Lebanon In Lebanon, will expand we on our previous experience of Back to School campaigns, which had a whole school community approach. we will deliverwe messages to parents through loudspeakers advocating girls for to return to will installschools. hand-washing We stations schools posters and provide in 120 and stickers boost girls’ toon how keep safe in school. To confidence, during the pandemic published we a book, Bangladesh, Save the Children will carry out a Back to School campaign in partnership with the Ministry of Education. In our target areas, Back to School Bangladesh In preparation schools for reopening in audiences, messages should be shared through especially girls, brought are into school. The messages key in back-to-school campaigns must be child-friendly, age-appropriate, accessible to and inclusive of people with disabilities, and inavailable thelanguages. local relevant They must specifically address the barriers facing girls and others less help to likely reach return to school. To all different TV radio, modalities – loudspeaker, (eg, who already out were of school prior to the crisis, Save the Children’s case worker Josette pays door-to-door visits as part of the 2018 Back to School campaign in Bekaa Valley, Lebanon. 46 SAVE OUR EDUCATION Further, there is substantial rigorous evidence evidence rigorous substantial is Further, there prevent and dropout. school to back go children vulnerable economically help can It livelihoods. and income household on pandemic the of impact the mitigate can assistance voucher and Cash programmes cash-transfer Emergency incentives. non-financial and financial place in putting include can This learning. to return to face not disincentives do families and children reopen, schools when We that ensure to need INCENTIVES NON-FINANCIAL AND FINANCIAL • • • •

PHOTO: SAVE THE CHILDREN and those in poorer households. poorer in those and disabilities with children girls, of education the children’s particularly their education, supporting from parents deter that norms social address to messaging targeted requires school to returning not of risk are greatest at who children those Fa distancing. physical as such saw, new rules last with they school the COVID-19 from from protected different is is that aschool that understand they Fa fromit. yourself protect to Fa etc. checks; for health d space asafe be to taking is school Steps isinfection; physical distancing rules; procedures procedures rules; distancing physical isinfection; cts about the value education of the about cts child your preparing about cts COVID-19 about cts : how it spreads; how : how spreads; it : ensuring : ensuring : getting : getting : was one of the top three ﬁnancial priorities. ﬁnancial three top the of one was fees school of payment countries, both in families with discussions group focus in and schooling, on spent were increasingly transfers that found Leone Sierra and Liberia in programme transfer cash Ebola programming. programming. education our for decision-making the inform to assistance voucher and cash delivering on guidance COVID-19 developed has Children the Save pay school fees directly, through cash grants to to grants cash through directly, fees school pay to used be can assistance voucher and Cash groups. armed from recruitment of risk at boys adolescent cases some in and school, to returning in challenges face particular often who girls, adolescent –for example, required be may groups vulnerable most the on focus A particular school. to return children of majority the ensure COVID-19, of light help could grants back-to-school In expenditures. highest face the families when year school the of start the at important particularly Transfers school. are attend can children ensure to needed is whatever –or books supplies, uniforms, clothing, transport, on spent be can Cash programme. the of objective main the not was that even when school, attend to able children of number the increase they that globally programmes transfer cash from schools. 126 Evidence from an evaluation of a USAID aUSAID of evaluation an from Evidence receive cash transfers. cash receive crisis COVID-19 the by affected are who Venezuela in families Migrant

127 3 PREPARE FOR A SAFE RETURN TO SCHOOL 47

130 129

131 aft a plan with speciﬁc benchmarks, for epareteachers, staff, parents, students and the community schools for reopening and the continuation of school feeding, health and nutrition services. dr gradual reestablishment of school feeding, nutrition programmes and WASH pr

Safe spaces pregnant for girls within schools – suchas girls clubs, of older involvement girls and provision of counselling on sexual and reproductive health – can encourage girls to return and stay in school. any policies that ban or expel pregnant girls. In Sierra Leone, the UK Department International for EbolaDevelopment’s programme recovery found that the provision of special education pregnant for girls, supported by a comprehensive teacher training programme, was effective in exceeding enrolment targets. The government of Sierra Leone set up a transition back to school programme in July 2015 and 3,000 girls who had become pregnant during the Ebola epidemic beneﬁted. Eliminate other barriers to entry to maximise re-enrolment rates Some children and families who been have exposed may be stigmatisedto in the COVID-19 community, including the school community, preventing them returning to school. During school closures, some girls may have become pregnant or given birth and be struggling to attend school due to breastfeeding and childcare needs. Schools must ensure that these girls are supported to return to school, including removing return plan to to school. increase these We activities once schools reopen are and we preparing safer training of community members using decentralised methods. teacher models role who additional provide support in classes. And in the community the REAL Fathers’ and mothers’ page 21) groups (see beenhave trained to help these vulnerable girls • •

128

olment (and indeed,olment (and trying to increase mpile and document such challenges ep track of areas that did not manage to quest schools, localities and suppliers to stock take of school feeding challenges and opportunities experienced during the emergency interactive life skills training. Schools female have In Malawi, the support to available girls who mostare to likely not return or drop out is multifaceted. First, they given are a special peer Girls matched are mentor with or ‘buddy’. other girls who successfully have returned to school after pregnancy or after having been for away another reason. Girls identiﬁed as at risk of dropping out bursaries provided are andspecial Supporting vulnerable girls back to school in Malawi co and opportunities ke continue school feeding in any form re enr -

• • • Food and Agriculture Organization recommend that decision-makers at the national and subnational level: School feeding programmes Governmentauthorities dealing with school feeding should be planning the for resumption of these programmes ready schools for reopening, as they oftenare a lifeline the for poorest families and could encourage re-enrolment. FoodUNICEF, Programme the and the World re effective of ensuring way that children return to school. Sierra Leone responded to the challenge of Waive school fees andWaive other costs Given the expected economic consequences of the pandemic, waiving school fees and other costs of education that often are by households, covered particularly in low-income countries, can be an enrolment pre-Ebola to above by waiving levels) school and examination fees two for years, as aswell by providing school feeding primary for students and through community mobilisation and targeted support to vulnerable groups. 48 SAVE OUR EDUCATION

PHOTO: TOM MERILION/SAVE THE CHILDREN school in Sylhet, Bangladesh. Sylhet, in school acommunity at 10, Taslima, to violence within their home and community. community. and home their within violence to exposed be may who girls, the of wellbeing the affects turn, in This, future. the about uncertainty work and of lack the to due stress mental of levels significant are experiencing caregivers behaviour. hygiene good of Parents/ knowledge lack often they means which education, formal have little very caregivers poorest the of Many nutrition. and food of lack to due risk at is members all of household health the have income, no caregivers and parents When gap. learning the widening is which home, at support learning proper receiving are not girls many are closed, schools several in While ways. families their and girls vulnerable already of vulnerability the increasing significantly is new reality The institutions. other and government the from support food and financial on rely to them forcing line, poverty the below families many pushed lockdown has The 2020. September until shut remain may Schools mid-March. in closed facilities all educational with 2020, March late lockdown since nationwide a COVID-19 been the has There virus. of transmission the limit to several measures taken has Bangladesh of government The BANGLADESH ON SPOTLIGHT Voice messages are sent to targeted parents parents Voice targeted to are sent messages teachers. and parents for targeted education COVID-19 on voice and messages text girls’ and awareness-raising initiated has Children the Save schools. within safety about concerns of because home at girls keeping labour, caregivers or marriage early child to due girls among rate dropout increased an of possibility ahigh is there aresult, As students. and teachers of health mental the affect likely to is pandemic the to due uncertainty by caused Stress practices. school safe about knowledge Teachers lack stations. hand-washing including facilities, hygiene proper lack schools Many education facilitators in outside spaces wearing wearing spaces outside in facilitators education by delivered sessions through and phone over the girls provided to is learning Distance distributed. been have also messages similar with Leaflets reopen. they when school to back get and education their continue should children why and children’s wellbeing, mental support how to pandemic, the during safe children their and themselves keep can how they about continued on next page next on continued PHOTO: LOUIS LEESON/SAVE THE CHILDREN 3 PREPARE FOR A SAFE RETURN TO SCHOOL 49 endly spaces fri - support in times of crisis. In addition, an internet ban that has been in in place the camps since September means that 2019 piloting remote forms of mental health support or educational activities is extremely challenging, and, in many cases, impossible. These services key must urgently be reestablished. and temporary learning centres, leaving half a million children without access to any learning opportunities or services that vital could provide Rohingya community worldwide, the government of Bangladesh the approved use of the Myanmar national curriculum in the camps. Save the Children, in partnership with UNICEF and UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, hasbeen leading the development of Myanmar Curriculum Pilot Project – which was scheduled to begin in April 2020 with the aim of reaching 10,000 in a bid children by the end of 2020. However, reaching the camps, COVID-19 to the prevent government of Bangladesh shifted service all provision to ‘essential’ and then only’. ‘critical This change closed child all continued Save the Children supports the Wilberforce young mother’s support group in Sierra Leone SPOTLIGHT ON BANGLADESH Rohingya children since their arrival, however, Rohingya children since their arrival, however, in January 2020, in a decision celebrated by the Rohingya children over the age of 15 are in no are Rohingya the children age over of 15 The government form of school whatsoever. of Bangladesh restricted formal learning for they fled violence and human rights abuses in Rakhine state, There more than are Myanmar. 500,000 children living in the refugee camps For almost three Bazar. years theyin Cox’s had extremelyhave limited access to life-saving services, including material education. Teaching is restricted grades, to lower only covering basic subjects, and children only attend school twofor hours a day. As a result, of 95% over EDUCATION FOR ROHINGYA REFUGEESEDUCATION FOR ROHINGYA Bangladesh has been home 1 million to over when Rohingya refugees since August 2017, personal protective equipment. These programmes being are carried out in Jamalpur districts,and Kurigram which characterisedare by high rates of poverty, illiteracy, early marriage and girls dropping out of school. 50 SAVE OUR EDUCATION through the school system. Research in Rwanda in Research system. school the through children disadvantaged most the of progression the impede can levels and educational between transitions critical at dropouts to lead schooling in gaps show that countries low-income in Studies month that students are out of school. of are out students that month for each gains learning annual in loss 20–35% found Ghana in children for disadvantaged education formal to programme education accelerated an from period transition athree-month during loss grades in Malawi. in grades between loss learning did as results, similar found strikes teacher to due closures fromschool loss learning examining studies from Analysis learning. months three of equivalent lose the backgrounds fromlow socioeconomic children all grades, and year. school following over average, all studies On the of beginning the at months, a half and two year, school each of end after again the and at reading or maths about knows student each much how loss’ measures learning ‘summer on Literature classroom. the to likely never is return to ayear than for more school to gone not has who achild communities, poorest the In closed. remain will schools how long unclear is it and times different at schools their shut –countries closures school from lost be will learning how much quantify to difficult is it crisis, the in stage At this regress. likely to is but stop just not does learning their school, of are out children When LOST LEARNING FOR UP MAKE CHILDREN HELP secondary completion and reducing earnings in the the in earnings reducing and completion secondary of chances lowering severe effects, cumulative level have can primary at closures school shows 132, 133 132, “It’s been two months that the schools are empty are schools the that months two been “It’s In order to better adapt to the opening of classes.” of opening the to adapt better to order In Let’s review our lessons and do our assignments The learning stops Wishes are lower look face on his A desperate coming delay is A big Let the benches begin to wrinkle Poem by Diaminatou Kanounté, a 16-year-old advocate from Mali advocate a16-year-old Kanounté, Diaminatou by Poem A recent study of learning learning of study Arecent 134

135

include sharing one another’s experiences during during another’s experiences one sharing include children’s on and might This learning, wellbeing. play-based and arts on routines, and relationships reestablishing on afocus is there learning, academic into back launching before period, reopening initial the during that recommended is it crisis, the during boys and girls of experience varied the and school, the of out spent time the Given programme Introductory assessments. learning and programme introductory an consider should schools closure, To after school to return children help TO SCHOOL BACK TO GET CHILDREN ALL SUPPORT and national data collated. As a result, education education aresult, As collated. data national and achild’s assessed is time learning ﬁrst the often is this and cycle, school primary the of end the at assessments learning summative administer systems education many level Currently, rapidly. grade to up catch all children so that opportunities learning and programming remedial inform and gaps learning identify can teachers by conducted assessment formative reopen, schools When assessments Learning routine. class regular the in activities learning emotional and social and MHPSS include to continue teachers that recommended is it classes, academic of schedule afuller into move schools As activities. MHPSS simple and concerns, individual addressing closures, school learning loss globally during COVID-19. during globally loss for learning scenarios different starkly World offers the Bank later. years by many market research New labour 136 3 PREPARE FOR A SAFE RETURN TO SCHOOL 51

PHOTO: JONATHAN HYAMS/SAVE THE CHILDREN up - ve missedve out on a year or less of school. d been attending school until a disruption e at the expected their for grade age ha to their education ar ha lasses to likely are be the most appropriate

Catch-up classes Catch-up classes short-term are transitional education programmes children for and young people who: • • • Catch-up classes students provide with the opportunity to learn content they missed and support students’ re-entry to the formal system. Given the anticipated length of school closures – betweenlikely and ﬁve nine months – catch Remedial programmes If, once schools open are and catch-up classes beenhave completed, some learners struggling, are a remedial programme should be provided. The remedial programme can be concurrent with regular classes, girls for and boys who require additional, targeted, short-term support with content or skills in order to succeed in regular formal classes. c accelerated education programme. )

138 It is essential 137 ssistance. up a - (such as the People’s Action as Learning for the(such People’s Network’s International Common Assessment Numeracy of that tools IDELA like and other learning assessments including those who out were of school at the onset of the crisis – and to get targeted ongoing remedial support where required, a combination of alternative education models will need to be adopted. The models chosen will vary to according the needs in each context. The models been below have deﬁned bythe global Accelerated Education Group. Working SUPPORTING UP CHILDREN CATCH TO ON LEARNING LOST enable children to catch up on lostTo learning – emergent language and literacy, emergent numeracy, and social-emotional development. leading assessment of early childhood development – International Developmentand Early Learning Assessment (IDELA) motor – covering development, Community mobilisers ran Saturday classes in Freetown, Sierra Leone to help children catch up on theirafter education the Ebola epidemic school closures. systems lack concrete data and not are able to identifyand respond to challenges at an early enough stage. Save the Children has developed a identify learning gaps appropriate and provide catch are usedare on the return to school in order to 52 SAVE OUR EDUCATION schools and designed to help students catch up. catch students help to designed and schools all in teachers to rolled out was which curriculum, accelerated an implemented and developed Leone Sierra of government the Ebola, After maturity. level cognitive of people’s young match that approaches learning and years), four teaching in using curriculum primary eight-year an (for format example, acondensed in education providingabasic age-appropriate, and are ﬂexible programmes education Accelerated children. affected for all needed be will a year, programmes these then than for more last closures school if Equally, needed. be will programme education accelerated a fuller grade – for age their are over expected result the a as –and learning of ayear than more missed and COVID crisis the before school of out dropped who or school to have been not who children For programmes education Accelerated Programme, we enabled refugee girls and boys boys and girls refugee we enabled Programme, Education Accelerated one through Uganda, In exams. national the 197 of boys) (109 passed cohort 88 pupils girls, 2019, In learn. to chance the 95% boys and a of girls gave marginalised project 2014,in this Leone Sierra in epidemic Ebola the Following Programmes Education Accelerated Our have set up accelerated education programmes. programmes. education accelerated have up set governments and NGOs agencies, donor Many ACCELERATED PRINCIPLES EDUCATION PROGRAMME good practice guidelines, now published as as now published guidelines, practice good piloted and developed has Working Group Education Accelerated inter-agency The effectiveness. and quality differing of programmes of variety awide is There 139

contextualised to suit the operating environment. operating the suit to contextualised be must points action and principles The goals. aspirational as are intended principles the practice, of standards minimum than Rather guidance practice 10 for effective principles Education: Accelerated curriculum. Programme Education Accelerated the endorsed and formalised has government Ugandan the NGOs, other and Children the Save from support With exams. national the passed pupils 508 of cohort 2019, In learning. to access gain a of to 79% peer-to-peer discussions and include social- include and discussions peer-to-peer promote messaging, MHPSS use should schools All further. increased and maintained be must closures school during services MHPSS of expansion and Innovations provision. in gaps the well as are as services support psychosocial and health mental how important highlighted has pandemic This lockdown. during violence and stress of experiences to due trauma or virus the from friend or member afamily of loss the to due grief experiencing be may children cases, some In peers. their behind falling about worried and have missed they learning of amount the of conscious be might they and safe, is school to return their whether about apprehensive feeling be may people young and Children school. to return they when effectively learn to able be not will children wellbeing, emotional and social and health mental for their support adequate Without learning emotional and Social children needing specialist MHPSS support. MHPSS specialist needing children children’s refer how and to wellbeing support to Teachers trained be should activities. emotional .

3 PREPARE FOR A SAFE RETURN TO SCHOOL 53

PHOTO: SHERBEL DISSI/SAVE THE CHILDREN continued on next page UNHCR estimates that 144 Many families therefore cannot afford 145 the world. to According UNHCR, as of June registered2020, Syrian there 657,287 were refugees in Jordan, of whom 233,000 were school-aged children. 83,920 of these83,920 children out are of school and not enrolled in any education system. Educational challenges compounded are for refugee children, as they often struggle to enrol in a school becausethey do not have the required documentation. a 2015 Further, UN assessment found that of school-aged 97% Syrian children at risk were of non-attendance because of their families’ ﬁnancial hardship. Nearly 90% of Syrian refugees below the live Jordanian poverty per line of person $95 per month. the costs of school fees, school uniform, books, equipment and transport to and from school. Families living in poverty often turn to negative coping mechanisms, including child labour and child marriage. In Jordan, the child marriage rate it is believed to be much higher however, is 10.6%; among refugee populations. Child marriage in itself can be a barrier to education, with girls not being to continue allowed their education after being married.

142

140 Furthermore, 141 143 ghest share of refugees per capita in hi - indergarten. k However, many challenges remain: schools are However, and in varying statesovercrowded of disrepair; teachers receive limited training and support; and learning outcomes remain low. internationalstandardised tests, including inmaths and science. Secondary education is neither free nor compulsory, and enrolment rates 81.3%.are Also, there limited are opportunities early for childhood development, of three- with just 13% to-four-year-olds of five-to-six-year-olds and 59% in Students consistently perform poorly in made new friends. Children’s Coaching for Life project before COVID-19, she built her confidence and Maya, 14, is from Syria and lives in Za’atari refugee camp in Jordan with her mother and two brothers. Maya used to be very shy, but after taking part in Save the Further, Jordan isFurther, one of the countries most affected by the crisis in Syria, hosting the second Learning outcomes poor are throughout basic and secondary education. of students 70% in grades 2 and reading 3 are without comprehension. In recent years, Jordan has made great progress in increasing access to education, with nearly universal primary enrolment, gender parity in schools, and a 98% adult literacy rate. SPOTLIGHT ON JORDAN SPOTLIGHT ON JORDAN opportunities to get back on track. influx of refugees placed additional have pressure on the public education system, and children and young people who out fall of the system lack the population growing of Jordanians and the 54 SAVE OUR EDUCATION for policy-makers Guidance Efforts: Teachers Back-to-School in Supporting review should policy-makers reopen, schools as for teachers support designing In up. catch to learners marginalised supporting and assessments, and curricula adjusting environments, learning safe role creating in important an play to need will staff school and all teachers schools, reopening In crisis. the with coping difficulties face personal may and support, limited receive conditions, teaching challenging most face the teachers Yet circumstances amplified. is play these in teachers role that critical COVID-19 the pandemic, the as such crisis, and emergency of times In system. every education in components important most the of one is teacher skilled and A competent TEACHERS FOR SUPPORT Commission estimated that 69 teachers million that estimated Commission Education the pandemic, the before Even UNESCO. and Organization Labour International the 2030, Taskforce for TeachersInternational for Education for school leaders, for school incentives, and support for their wellbeing. wellbeing. for their support and incentives, and pay appropriate development, professional decision-making, in involving them through system education the to connected teachers keep to made be must efforts All capacity. teaching in reduction asevere in result could budgets education reduced potentially and closures school of impact The SDG4. meet to 2030 by globally recruited be to needed all students, including refugees. including all students, are available to tools learning distance The daily. are broadcast that lessons televised and portal education online an launched Education of Ministry the learning, distance enable to order In nationwide. learners million 2.3 than more 15 on affecting all schools closed March, COVID-19, of spread the government the COVID-19 of Tocase country. the in manage first the confirmed Jordan 2020, 2March On from the distance learning resources. learning distance the from benefit to for them difficult it making internet, the to access have or limited devices electronic relevant have to not access do refugees many SPOTLIGHT ON JORDAN ON SPOTLIGHT 147 and the accompanying toolkit toolkit accompanying the and 148 which were developed by the the were by developed which 146 However, continued 149

and retention in education systems. education in retention and enrolment their supporting and children, school for out-of- support education remedial providing by education abasic receive children that ensure We to providers. working are also kindergarten for system assurance quality develop anational to government the with working and country, the across centres education early operating by care development and childhood early supporting Further, we are practices. teaching of quality the and wellbeing emotional and social their including all at levels, teachers of development the supporting is Children the Save Jordan, in system education the strengthen to order In child-centred teaching skills. teaching child-centred and technology, communications and information literacy, digital including innovation, for pedagogical capacity reinforce teachers’ that tools and training arole enhancing play in should institutes training Teacher sustainable. be to is technology this if least not methods, teaching alternative in training ongoing need will teachers that mean reopen schools as technology some of use likely continued the and contexts closure many in school during devices internet-enabled of use increasing The safe. everyone keep to school the within undertaken being changes COVID-19 the the and communicate pandemic Teachers how in to trained be motivation. should teacher reduce could and jeopardy, in students the of opportunities learning the put will reopen schools as for teachers support and training of Lack DEVELOPMENT PROFESSIONAL TEACHER PROVIDE EFFECTIVE EdTechblended practices. classroom and as such solutions, long-term and protocols, safety and classes remedial assessment, to approaches short-term plan institutions and countries as critical Teachers’ loss. learning be voices will pandemic post- mitigate to practices teaching developing in and schools of opening safe for the planning when are included perspectives teachers’ that vital is It PLANNING AND DECISION-MAKING IN INVOLVE TEACHERS 3 PREPARE FOR A SAFE RETURN TO SCHOOL 55

PHOTO: SAVE THE CHILDREN This trend 153 The COVID-19 crisis could The COVID-19

154 Helping teachers in Jordan build supportive online teams In Jordan, in partnership with the Ministry of Education, promoting are we teacher wellbeing through online channels. Across three regions, equipped have we and built the capacity of teacher task teams to transfer their usual face-to-face workshops to the virtual sphere and to adapt workshop materials and activities to this context. working conditions and high of stress, levels poor socioemotional and physical health, poor motivation, of job levels satisfaction, low burnout retentionand low in the profession. seems particularly evident particular for groups of teaching professionals, such as female teachers. In humanitarian and protracted emergency contexts, these conditions, of stress levels and impact exacerbated.are further increase the strain on teachers as they ﬁnd themselves personallyaffected by the virus on multiple levels. teacher training andOur support COVID-19 includes components on teachers managing their stressown and wellbeing. In Niger and Syria are we buildingon orestablishing peer learning and support networks – either remotely or in small, socially distanced groups.

152 151 150 rvice teachers allocated were to illiterate or classes due to school closures. Basel, a teacher in Idlib, Syria, is currently holding virtual se - poorly trained teachers in rural schools. Similar efforts could be out rolled as part of the COVID-19 effortsrecovery in many countries. to be considered and child protection. This is being implemented in the DRC, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. SUPPORT TEACHER WELLBEING Evidence shows that when teachers able are to manage their stress and ﬁnd the support they need, they better are prepared to create a protective, safe and constructive learning environment where children positive can learning achieve outcomes. or face-to-face) Teacher Professionalor face-to-face) Development Teacher including to how module speciﬁcally on COVID-19, talk to children about the pandemic, what needs schools reopen. As part of the education system effort recovery in Sierra Leone following the Ebola epidemic, in Save the Children has developed a self-study (and/ coaching and communities of practice. This use of technology to train teachers during school closure could be blended withface-to-face training when In some contexts, technology is already being used to deliver teacher professional development quickly in low-income settings. Programmes run by the and in Kenya Education Development Trust use smartphonesRwanda and SD cards loaded with videos of teaching practices to support training, Recent studies in a range of contexts document the link between teachers’ unsatisfactory 56 SAVE OUR EDUCATION • • • • • • • • so: do to it’s safe when school to return to every child Support Recommendations

PHOTO: MALAMA MWILA/SAVE THE CHILDREN Ad people Pr recovery. and response of frontline the of part as schools in new circumstances Pr programmes education accelerated and – interventions targeted and blanket Pr school. to return to children marginalised most the support to initiatives well as as opening, school safe in confidence community and of raise awareness to education, for girls’ support and mobilisation Cr change. climate children’s to including shocks education, fromfuture protect over to time benefits child towards universal working progressively children, deprived and marginalised most the include and gender-responsive be must programmes Coverage these of school. from and to transportation safe ensuring and population, student marginalised most the with schools to grants block increasing fees, school freezing grants, school feeding, school transfers, cash including protection. social of coverage up Scale types and out. dropping of school in Cr outbreaks. localised to due close again to need schools case in plans Develop preparedness requirements. distancing physical enable to staffing and classrooms, additional kits, management hygiene menstrual WASH facilities, gender-responsive protocols, and infrastructure safety and health En Mi or child mothers. mothers. child or married are pregnant, they if education their continuing from prevent girls that norms social ovide professional development and support for teachers for support and development professional ovide school to return their on assessment alearning with every child ovide ovide mental health and psychosocial support services for children and young young and children for services support psychosocial and health mental ovide nimise the use of schools as health facilities and quarantine sites quarantine and facilities health as schools of use the nimise eate inclusive and gender-sensitive Back to School campaigns School to Back gender-sensitive and inclusive eate children keep help to protection social expand and interventions targeted eate sure that schools are safe environments for children to return to return to children for environments safe are schools that sure dress gender-related barriers to education to barriers gender-related dress , and link children to additional services when necessary and available. available. and necessary when services additional to children link , and , particularly the most marginalised groups of children who are at highest risk risk are highest at who children of groups marginalised most the , particularly including catch-up classes, remedial programmes, programmes, remedial classes, catch-up including . , including laws, policies and harmful harmful and policies laws, , including so that they can adapt to to adapt can they so that , including community community , including schools closed. schools before Zambia in school primary her at teacher her 9, with Kabukabu, where possible. where , including , including to inform inform to 4 Build back for better learning

As this report has demonstrated, a number of actions need to be taken by governments, donors and the international community to get children back to school and enable them to catch up on the learning they have lost. But that will not be enough; we must go further. We need to make sure that these actions lay the groundwork that will allow us to build back more inclusive and resilient education systems. In doing so, we will ﬁnally live up to human rights obligations to provide free and compulsory education and keep the 2030 Agenda promise to leave no one behind.

Investing in education matters for our recovery from access and learning in basic education is the dire this crisis. When children lose out on education, it financing gap for education. Fulfilling our promise to has an impact on a myriad of different elements of get every child learning will require total spending their life – including their future earning potential. A on education across all low- and middle-income forecast of the economic cost of school closures has countries to rise from $1.2 trillion per year today found that lost earnings could be up to $1,337 per to $3 trillion by 2030.159 student; globally, this equates to approximately In order for countries to respond to this immediate $10 trillion in lost economic output over the crisis, recover, and build back better, more and coming generation.155 improved investment in education is urgently needed. Yet to date, the international community has not sufficiently recognised the huge learning crisis the pandemic has caused and how important education is for the recovery. This has resulted in limited action and so far a shocking lack of investment in education. The World Bank has made available $160 billion PHOTO: SAVE THE CHILDREN over 15 months to assist countries with the health, economic and social shocks caused by the pandemic.156, 157 But it is unclear what proportion of this has or will be allocated for education as it depends on country demand. UNHCR, in its global COVID-19 response, has only committed 3% of funding to education158 (in addition to maintaining funding for teacher salaries across multiple refugee-hosting countries). Education Cannot Wait has called on donors to fund its emergency response fund to a total of $50 million, but to date Priscille lives in a it has received just over half of this amount. Given refugee settlement in western Uganda. the stakes for millions of children around the world, Thanks to support these are worrying indications of a failure to from Education respond with the urgency merited. Cannot Wait, she has received a study This funding shortfall comes on top of an existing pack to help her keep learning while financing crisis for education. One of the key schools are closed. reasons we are not achieving the fundamentals of

57 58 SAVE OUR EDUCATION identity, language and values. and language identity, for children’s respect and cultural education in quality and equity ensure to responsibility the includes This for all children. education to right the fulfil to have obligation an They governments. national with foremost and first lies all children for for providing education responsibility The COVID-19EDUCATION BEFORE IN INVESTMENT DOMESTIC towards SDG4. progress accelerate and children’s track on get to back learning crisis this from learned lessons and strengthened be can architecture education global how the better. examines back also It building to and COVID-19 to response the of part acrucial such is education in investment why out sets section This crisis. learning broader the and emergency COVID-19 the to respond will that action of plan urgent an implement and architecture education global the strengthen to community international the from required is effort coordinated A greater years. three for centre learning mobile Children’s the Save attending been has India, Kolkata, in lives who 12, Anika, 160 many countries need to expand their revenue base. their expand to need countries many state, the of obligations rights human other the well as as education, to right the fulfil to order In small. be also will education to allocated share the small, is budget national total the If enough. be not would it tomorrow this did even all countries if But total expenditure on education, or 4–6% of GDP. of 4–6% or education, on expenditure total of 15–20% spend to is Declaration, Incheon the in ministers education by agreed target, international governments. national from come to need gap financing education the fill to required funds 97% the of 2016 in approximately that projected education. for source finance of sustainable and important most the far by is spending public Domestic 28.8% in Ethiopia the same year. same the Ethiopia in 28.8% to 2018 in Sudan South in expenditure government 0.9% –from total of education on spending in governments between disparities are vast There revenue base. their expand to need they Second, education. on spent budget the of share the increase to need governments First, happen. to need things two The Education Commission Commission Education The 161 In order to reach that target, target, that reach to order In 162 The The 163

PHOTO: CJ CLARKE/SAVE THE CHILDREN THE CLARKE/SAVE CJ PHOTO: 4 BUILD BACK FOR BETTER LEARNING 59

PHOTO: CHRISTENA DOWSETT/SAVE THE CHILDREN 168

This is in addition to the 167 re workingre to access to provide guidance providing re and training ough existing programmes are we ough policy briefs and children’s consultations, continued have we to highlight the rights risks to children’s during this pandemic Thr actively engaging with families to advocate thefor change in behaviours required to minimise the impact of the virus. a We education children for through an approach that blends the use of technology and conventional approaches to reach those who most are marginalised or in hard-to- reachareas. a We teachersfor they on how can best plan lessons children for in line with social distancing measures. Thr

2.2 million childrenalready out of school. • • • The government, in collaboration with others, has developed a National Education Sector COVID-19 response plan. In collaboration with development partners the government put together learning resourcescommunities for to access through radio many childrenand do online platforms. However, accessnot to have these platforms. Save the Children sits on the National COVID-19 Education for been have and we able Taskforce to strategic provide leadership and guidance to the government. • 35,000 teachers and volunteers at risk are of losing their jobs.

164 School completion rates 165 166 mmunal violence. The delay in creating co - Girls drop out of school at high rates due to child marriage, getting with 52% married before their 18th birthday. South Sudan, run by Save the Children. Children attend a primary school in Waat, humanitarian actors Save the like Children to access those who worst are affected. Children living in such situations to more likely are be further left behind in accessing basic services education.like As schools closed in response to the pandemic, girls) an estimated million children (43% 1.9 lostwill have learning opportunities and visible forms of leadership, local along with increased violence breaking scarce out over resources, has resulted in huge challenges for With attempts being made to respond to the many parts of thethreat country of COVID-19, multifaceted faced have threats to their safety; both due to the pandemic and also to outbreaks of inter were estimatedwere to be out of school in 2018. South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in as an outcome of a 2005July 2011 peace deal longestthat ended running Africa’s civil war. the country was plunged into a crisisHowever, which has leftin 2013 it devastated and has seen the deterioration of an already weakened education system. leastAt 2.2 million South Sudanese children SPOTLIGHT ON SOUTH SUDAN in South Sudan amongare the in lowest the – onworld average, a child receives just five years of education. 60 SAVE OUR EDUCATION investment, plummeting commodity prices, commodity plummeting investment, foreign in adecrease as –such consequences economy. global the in decrease a4.9% projecting 2020 June in IMF the with economy, global the have severely affected – remittances and revenues tourism a fall in expenditure on education as a percentage of overall of apercentage as education on expenditure government that assumes scenario, optimistic The scenarios. possible different of anumber with benchmark this We compared then pandemic. COVID-19 the before for 2020 planned spending education the abenchmark as use projections Our countries. for low- middle-income and IMF and Bank World the from estimates expenditure government budgets. COVID-19 of education on be impact to likely the we what expect examines report this for Children Save by the analysis New 2000. since spending education in growth the or, for 2020, reverse to spending worse, education in increases planned reduce to governments tempt may pandemic the countries low- middle-income and in aresult, As school. in children keep and shocks future from families protect help to benefits child universal of realisation progressive the including protection, social and health on spending increase to need urgent an is there pandemic, the to response in second, And are shrinking. budgets national First, countries. many in education to right for the threat aserious is recession economic global This Pandemic growth. economic global on impact asignificant have, to continue likely to is and had, lockdown has global The financing. education to COVID-19 threat the agreat poses pandemic education, in gaps funding existing large with Even EDUCATION FINANCING NATIONAL INTERNATIONAL AND COVID-19 REDUCE COULD We used GDP growth projections and and projections We growth GDP used 170 - re lated lated 169 and and

methodology). full $109and 2021 in 2for (see billion Annex 2020 in billion $83 than more by drop could education on expenditure public scenario, scenario without COVID-19. without scenario business-as-usual the with compared slightly increase to spending –for education countries lower-middle-income not – though countries most in potential the growth), is there GDP reduced account into taking (evenpandemic after the to aresponse as spending government in increase asignificant see to projected countries many with Indeed, constant. remains expenditure education first, scenario Taking optimistic the scenario. amid-case we chart extremes these 2). (see Annex Between sectors towards other spending of areprioritisation 10% to by drops due education to allocated expenditure government of share the revenue adjustment, the with along that, assumes scenario pessimistic The slows. growth economic as revenue by losses solely caused adjustments with constant, remains expenditure analysis by the World Bank in May 2020 World May in the by Bank analysis (equivalent acomparable to towards education allocate governments budgets of share the in a10% drop we assume scenario, pessimistic the In countries. would lower-middle-income in occur losses projected 2021. in $55 the billion of Most to widen could gap This sample. the in countries low- middle-income and 98 the across 2020 in billion $22 by education on spending government reduce will pandemic the of consequences fiscal and economic the scenario, this In towards education. allocate governments budgets of share the in decrease a4.3% to equivalent effect in is assumption 2019). (compared 2020 with in spending This education in increase no with sectors other and health on spent be mostly will resources budget additional that assumes scenario mid-case The

172 ). In this this In PHOTO: SAVE THE CHILDREN

4 BUILD BACK FOR BETTER LEARNING 61 on health systems. National lockdowns being are implemented the to prevent further spread of the virus, which is resulting in many people being unable to go to work, risking a rise in unemployment and dependency on social programmes. welfare education budgets detrimental can have impacts learning worldwide.on children’s Governments must actively ensure that children continue to learn of the 1.3 Target throughout and after COVID-19. SDGs requires countries to “implement nationally appropriate social protection systems and measures which all,for can help including countries floors”, prepare more effectively shocks for to children’s education, crisis, such and make as the COVID-19 domesticsure investments in education upheld are and increased in the medium to long term to be able to buildthe education system back better. As governments respond to the pandemic, difficult choices will need to be made about government spending. The virus is causing a significant strain Declining incomes may also lead to shifts 173 from 2016, householdsfrom 2016, in low-income countries contribute more than one-third – of – 39% total education spending. This is an average, which means in some countries, household contributions even are higher. BUDGETS AND SCHOOL PAYMENTS toAccording the report Education Commission’s Tala, 9, lives 9, Tala, in a camp in Idlib, Syria where she usually attends a school supported by Save the Children’s partner. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic,our partners have had to adapt their programming and now do virtual classes to support remote learning. ON HOUSEHOLD IMPACT COVID-19 The pandemic and its consequences will affect millions of girlsand boys negatively and cuts in (pages 29–30), adding to pressure on government education budgets. The poorest households bear a relatively heavy burden of household spending on education. For many of these families, the economic downturn and loss of income will mean that they the have money to keep sendingwon’t their children to school, and some children will need to spend their days on income-generating activities. in enrolment from private schools to public schools, as described in the Lebanon country spotlight 62 SAVE OUR EDUCATION impact on children’s education through the children’s the on through impact education the mitigate to aims with strategy, response effective an created Education of Ministry The inequalities. education pre-existing COVID-19 compound to state, serve only will weakened already an Within term. long the in school of out staying more millions in result could This virus. the contract who members family for caring and working into pressured be will children families, low-income For education. to disruption beyond extends closures school these of impact The children. million 46 than more affected which closure schools, of the ordered Education of Ministry the 2020, 27on February COVID-19 of case recorded first the Following marriage. child as such practices traditional and cultural to due barriers face further country the across Girls bleaker, is picture 53%. of arate the with North the In school. primary attend regularly olds number in the world. the in number highest the school, of are out children school-age million 10.5 about Nigeria, in compulsory and free officially is education primary though Even NIGERIA ON SPOTLIGHT advocates on children’s rights. children’s on advocates which Children, the Save by supported Parliament, Children’s State Katsina the of amember is 16, Aisha, 174

Only 61% Only 6–11-year- of PHOTO: SAVE THE CHILDREN THE SAVE PHOTO: radio and television channels. television radio and via learning remote effective in children engage to required resources the access to unable been have households many technology to access and wealth in disparities huge to due Furthermore, disadvantaged. and vulnerable are most who those of needs learning the have addressed not vague and too have been measures policy that However, growing concerns have been there lessons. missed on up catch to try to schools reopen to have begun states some and resume to programmes feeding school for arrangements have made states All tools. learning remote to access including resources and guidance information, of dissemination • • • refugees. and girls including vulnerable, most and poorest the of income and livelihoods the of protection the ensuring on focus to response government for the advocating is Children the Save • •

programmes. learning radio home in participate to ability their enhance to communities, targeted within children vulnerable most the to handsets radio powered have and procured closed learning interactive initiate to aim the on We a strategy response COVID-19 Nigeria’sof sector education development we have the led Lead, Cluster Al Federal and State levels. levels. State and Federal the at opportunities advocacy engagement child-led elevating also while communities mobilise and raise awareness evidence, gather to continuing by minimised is pandemic this of impact the that ensure to efforts our Campaign Education p As Education. of Ministry the with shared be will which subsides, pandemic the after g of development the We are supporting who are unable to access radio signals. access to are unable who resources paper-based develop to authorities education We with are working uidance for schools planning to reopen to planning schools for uidance ongside UNICEF, in their capacity as a as capacity their in UNICEF, ongside art of our previously designed designed previously our of art re supporting the COVID-19 the committee re supporting in the North East. North the in long distance radio radio distance long whilst schools are schools whilst we are continuing we are continuing solar solar 1,450 to be distributed distributed be to for children for children Girl’s

4 BUILD BACK FOR BETTER LEARNING 63

178 180 179

177 Corruption Many countries struggle with of a high level corruption and mismanagement of funds, and studies suggest that corruption is widespread in the Public education expenditure sector. tracking surveys found that have a quarter to a half of funds meanteducation for budgets do not reach schools. country reporting by multinational companies on financial information, including data key on profits, taxes paid, subsidies received, turnover and number of employees. targeting of finance and to identify group-specific costs that must be taken into account. Illicit financial flows Governments must expand their national tax base in order to secure funding education, for butglobal actionisrequired to tackle illicit financial (IFFs) flows and tax and avoidance to strengthen international tax cooperation. IFFs originate from crime and corruption money being and involve taken out of a country through tax evasion, money laundering, bribery and other criminal acts, as as well from mispriced goods. Governments must concrete take measures to crack down on tax havens by getting jurisdictions all automatic towards to move exchange of tax information and to implement public registers of the true owners of companies and trusts. Each country should alsorequire public country-by- channels essential are to enable people to report suspected corruption without fear of retaliation. Debt Debt repayments still up take a sizable portion of developing country revenue, governments´ money which could otherwise be used to respond to and counteract the health and economic crises. Even crisis, out 34 before of 73 low-income the COVID-19 There is a need to strengthen accountability in education financial management to end this. in budgeting andTransparency spending throughout the education system is needed to be able to follow the money from national budgets to spending in schools. National, district and school budgets need to be published in detail, and confidential complaint This damages children’s learningThis damages outcomes children’s – the Education Commission found a clear negative relationship between corruption and student maths and reading scores. - to - to make Tax revenues Tax 175 and increase their 176 expand their tax base resources those towards groups and geographical areas that need it the most requires collection of and access to good quality data. Governments must systematically collect and report data on household spending on education, including direct, all indirect and informal fees that may be borne by social all and economic groups. This data is crucial to inform Making equitable education budgets and prioritising are theare most reliable and sustainable of source income a national for state. Expanding the tax base and closing tax loopholes should be a priority countries. all for In countries with tax a low Governments and middle-income in low- countries need to tax-to-GDP ratio to at least 20%. HOW TO FINANCE TO THE CRISISHOW AND BUILDBETTER BACK AND MORE RESILIENT SYSTEMS EDUCATION GOVERNMENTSNATIONAL countries, the poorest 20% of people receive only of10.3% education resources. progressive interventions such as pre-primary and basic education, to ensure that existing inequalities tackledare and not exacerbated. In low-income not primarily guided by tax reforms incentives. Tax should be guided by transparent processes, with citizen representation, and be open scrutiny.for Equitable spending reach the most marginalised children,To governments must build and in education invest systems that ensure that no child is left behind, which includes targeting investments towards holidays and other tax incentives to multinational corporations in order to attract investments, even though research shows that the decision to is invest seeking to put education on a sustainable footing. policies should beTax progressive thatsure the financial burden is not carried by people who marginalised. poor are and/or Governments should strive to introduce taxes that redistributiveare and gender-sensitive, such as taxes on property, land, inheritance and wealth. Fair taxation on multinationalcorporations should also be prioritised. Many developing countries offer tax needs to increase. While difficult in the immediate economic crisis, thisCOVID-19 remains the single most important financing priority governments for GDP ratio it will not be enough to increase the spending share to education; budget the overall also 64 SAVE OUR EDUCATION February 2020, this picture may only get worse. get only may picture this 2020, February late since costs borrowing in increases sharp with coupled incomes in reductions sharp With distress. debt of risk high at or were in already countries the case for bold action would be strengthened would strengthened be action for bold case the countries DSSI the of case the In framework. relief debt acomprehensive is needed is What relief. debt comparable provide have to so failed far creditors private yet $14bn –around amount – this are twice creditors private to repayments Scheduled 2020. during DSSI for the eligible owed countries by $45bn the of However, $6bn for just account creditors bilateral terms. provide comparable to G20 the by –were requested companies trading commodity and banks holders, –sovereign bond creditors Commercial 74 countries. in creditors IDA-eligible bilateral official by payments debt of a suspension for provides World and IMF Bank, the by prompting after 2020 April, in G20 the by agreed Initiative, The crisis. of time this in direction right the in step a is (DSSI) Initiative Suspension Service Debt The education. to right the including rights, human fulfil to capacity financial state’s the consider also to capacity repayment on narrow focus the move should beyond assessments sustainability Debt financing. international of for reform need the demonstrate and are huge pandemic the of costs human and social The crisis. debt the to solutions long-term sustainable agree should and situations debt unsustainable preventing for responsibility share lenders and Borrowers distress. debt of risk higher at countries low- middle-income put and not should COVID-19 to response in lending of form the in finance Additional budgets. countries’ developing in funds unlock can that relief debt ensure to worktogether must donors and actors Global 181

to achieve the goals. achieveto the needed targets fiscal the establish to governments with working by process this support help could IMF 4–the SDG in out set goals achieveto the are needed that teachers of number the determine should better. Governments teachers existing pay to or teachers more recruit to difficult make it wage bills sector public restrain that policies and education, as such services, priority on more spend to capacity countries’ squeeze targets inflation Strict careor workers. nurses doctors, teachers, enough employ to unable being governments to lead cases many in that measures austerity on are advised countries income for the SDGs at the heard of its policy analysis. analysis. policy its of heard the at SDGs for the planning put to efforts welcome made has IMF The wage bills sector public to cuts and Austerity system. UN the through created restructuring, for sovereign debt process enforceable and comprehensive systematic, a we need successful and equitable efficient, more To resolution. crisis restructuring makedebt debt to approach long-term and comprehensive more a to linked be must measures short-term These creditors. private and bilateral multilateral, including – take part must all creditors and moratorium; covered be the by must countries more most; it need that countries for the cancellation debt with along necessary, be may restructuring debt that: recognised be to has it COVID-19 deepends, crisis the If education. including children, in investments into liabilities debt convert that measures by SDGs. the to related those including considerations, other have trumped to appears inflation reduce to aconcern which in cases highlighted has research Recent advice. policy and statements policy between However, over gap the concerns are still there 182, 183 182, A large number of low- of middle- and number Alarge 184

4 BUILD BACK FOR BETTER LEARNING 65

PHOTO: PETER MORU/SAVE THE CHILDREN continued on next page The materials being are distributed to homes and used to deliver lessons on TV and radio. with limited budgets,However, many children risk being left behind. More than of refugee 57% children, example, for still have not received any home learning materials. Schools closed in late were March as a result and remain closed indefinitely.of COVID-19 million children out are of school,15 including 600,000 already refugees. are seeing a rise We in abuse and violence against children, as well as increased cases of child labour and other harmful practices as families driven are further into poverty. Many children in areas are with no or limited phone, TV and internet radio and coverage, even does not reach many of the most vulnerable. The Ministry of Education and Sports, with support from UN and NGOs including Save the Children, quickly developed an Education Preparedness and Response plan, including self-study materials primary all for and secondary school learners. The costs refugee for education are 185 mostly borne by international donors and communities.local Ivan, and his 7, grandmother learning from home in north-east Uganda creates further need. Just to meet current enrolment of refugee children, an additional 2,290 teachers and 3,864 classrooms needed. are the national percentage of Uganda’s Yet budget allocated to education has decreased yearevery the for past years. five Primary education expenditure per child, is $105 which in sub-Saharan below average is 81.5% Africa. grade-level proficiency in reading and numeracy. Uganda hosts more than million 1.4 refugees – the third largest number globally – and this There has been significant progress in Uganda, with school enrolmentalmost tripling since the government introduced universal primary enormous gaps However, education in 1997. remain and there signs are of progress stalling. More than half of children who enrol in primary school drop out before completing it; and lackmany basic schools overcrowded are resources; and most children do not attain SPOTLIGHT ON UGANDA 66 SAVE OUR EDUCATION for education. support a12%entailing international in drop COVID-19 of aresult as 2022 by $2 billion – to up by decline likely to aid is global that suggests Report Monitoring Education UNESCO’s Global from estimates recent climbs, these Despite same level that went to health in 2016. in health to went levelsame that 10% from 15% rise to should the education –about to goes all of aid that share the that report its in recommended Commission Education The post to and 7%, by education secondary aid to 6%, by increased education basic aid to next, the year. previous the from 9% of to year From one $15.6 at recorded increase an 2018, in billion ever amount highest the reached education to Aid countries. role low- in middle-income and acritical aid plays international governments, national from comes for education financing of majority the While emergency. education COVID-19 the to respond to donors international from required be will support Significant education of financing International ACTORS GLOBAL 2030. 2030. in countries OECD of GDP total the of 0.07% (ODA) would just be education devoted to assistance development overall that official mean SPOTLIGHT ON UGANDA ON SPOTLIGHT • • districts. 24 in programmes protection child and education health, through response, led government- the supporting is Children the Save

- se and distributed handheld radios. handheld distributed and are broadcast, lessons which on loudspeaker and amast radio’ ‘community up set with we have settlements refugee and areas rural remote In children. primary-aged and programmes learning We h distributed to 105,000 children nationwide. children 105,000 to distributed packs learning home We in curriculum. these the have included with line in use, for national materials study home develop to Centre Development Curriculum We h condary education by 12%. by education condary ave produced and broadcast broadcast ave and produced ave worked with the National National the ave worked with 188 which we have so far which for pre-primary for pre-primary 187

189 continued This would This radio radio 186

36% in 2002 to 22% in 2016. in 22% to 36% 2002 in from fell countries low-income aid to education basic of share The need. in most countries the to allocated not are also disbursements • access tertiary education. tertiary access to countries developing from for students costs and 69%and France’s of scholarships at directed aid is However, education. to donors Germany’s of 58% three top the of France and are two Germany was 26 times that spent on pre-primary. on spent that 26was times scholarships on aid disbursed of amount the 2015 in post-secondary; on spent billion $3.6 to contrast in 1% aid, –under year education per –of $76 receives education million Pre-primary system. education levels the of higher to access and learning securing in education basic of importance the as well as education, basic in needs greater the given ODA. ODA. of deﬁnition Commmittee Assistance Development OECD the from excluded be to for scholarships education. secondary upper and 55% secondary to going with education aid to 45% total of only receiving key by donors, prioritised not is education Basic 31%. 24% from to 15% 18% for infrastructure to and rose from for health share the comparison, in 2015 in 6.9% from 2009, 7.6% to 2016. in However, since time ODA ﬁrst global rose of share for the COVID-19 Education’s worse. make it likely to is However, and this, way off along we are currently •

learning and provide mental health support. health provide and mental learning children refugee keep to resources mobilise to together 15 of working up organisations We l p In giving interactive lessons. interactive giving learning TV one-hour we aweekly produce school artnership with a leading independent independent aleading with artnership ead the Education Consortium, made made Consortium, Education the ead 190 This weighting does not make sense make sense not does weighting This programme with teachers teachers with programme 193 192 We for ODA are calling

191 Aid Aid 4 BUILD BACK FOR BETTER LEARNING 67 education plans. OnApril 1 2020, the GPE unlocked $250 million to help developing countries mitigate both the immediate and long-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on education. On 1 June, to respond to strong demand from partner countries, GPE responseincreased window to the COVID-19 achieved for children. To its credit, children. Bank for achieved the To World spending but – has frontloading frontloaded IDA-19 is not a substitute and new additional for finance. Bank shouldThe World also its be leveraging balance sheet through bond issues and donor credit guarantees, potentially including the International Finance Facility Education for (IFFEd). TheWorld Bank should also work with UNICEF and national governments to create a facility that converts suspended debt service payments into investments in children. This ensure would that money freed up from debt savings is invested in priority areas, suchas education. The Global Partnership for Education (GPE) The GPE is the largest of multilateral source funding education. for mission GPE’s is to mobilise global and national efforts to contribute to the achievement of equitable, quality education and learning all. for The partnership has a unique – role agreeing standards education for planning and policy-making, and mobilising development financing from public and private donors around the to world support and monitor the implementation of national credit on 1 May 2020. Eligible countries include all countriesIDA andleast-developed all countries that currentlyare on debt service to the IMF and the Bank.World Inprinciple, these all countries would be free to ask a suspension for of debt payments, but each beneficiary country will be required to commit to use the created fiscal space to increase social, health or economic spending in response only a small number of to the crisis. However, countries actually have asked a suspension for of debt payments. Responding to this education crisis the for poorest children requires additional financing, on top of existing Bank’s funds. shareholders The World should a supplementary provide budget IDA of thearound next over $35bn two years, with at least in grant financing. $10bn The global education emergency is one element in a wider crisis which could lead to a wholesale in progress reversal

in 194 Walk the Talk?: Review the Talk?: Walk multilateral mechanisms . This funding shouldincreasingly be this crisis. poorestG20 economies the world’s allowed countries to suspend repayment of official bilateral is being by provided frontloading existing funding commitments, rather than and from new additional resources which needed are responding for to the World Bankthe that World focuses on the world’s poorest countries – received $82 billion in funding from donors. In its pandemic, response to the the COVID-19 Bank billion hasannounced been $160 made in available financing,tailored tothe health, economic socialand shocks that countries facing, are including over $50 billion resources of on IDA grant and highly this financing IDA concessional terms. However, At itsAt the last International replenishment in 2019, Development Association – the part (IDA) of they target investment on fighting poverty and increasing essential services, including education. Bank The World Bank hasThe World a critical torole play in multiplying aid. more Now than is theever time itfor to step in to help the poorest children in the poorest countries through providing support to education. the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Sweden – is connected to their gross national income. When spending,reviewing ODA donors must ensure An example of good practice is the European commitmentUnion’s to education in emergencies, whichhas increased the percentage of its annual humanitarian budget spent on education to 10%. strongly encourage donorsWe to maintain their of ODA,level but it is that likely budgetssome ODA will shrink as a result of the pandemic and economic recession. For example, the budget ODA of some donor countries – the UK, Denmark, Norway, channelled through multi-year increments to ensure maximum impact. found that,while the amount of humanitarian aid allocated to education doubled between 2015 $284 million (from to $565 million), and 2018 the current global of 2.24% average of humanitarian funding allocated to education is well below the 4–10% the Save Children recommends What’s more, our 2019 report more,What’s our 2019 financingof education for in emergencies, 2015–18 68 SAVE OUR EDUCATION Syria and Uganda). and Syria Sudan, South Somalia, Ethiopia, Chad, Republic, African Central Afghanistan, territory, Palestine occupied the (in Bangladesh, programmes resilience $2 billion million $300 additional 2021, of end the requires it to up period strategic its of remainder for the and response To COVID-19 for the gaps funding ECW’s fulfil • • • • • on: focus 12 Grants and months. six between varies grants of duration The crises. humanitarian by affected already 36 countries across $42 million disburse to quickly acted COVID-19 the has to ECW response In crisis, teachers. 41,000 than more training and education good-quality with crises by affected children million 2.6 reaching 29across countries, $309.9 invested has it million operational became it Since crises. protracted and emergencies in education to dedicated fund global only the is ECW Wait Cannot (ECW) Education 2021. in conference replenishment the at new funding with up step donors bilateral that (2021–25). critical is period It strategic next for the funds for replenishing for Investment Case new its issue will GPE the Assembly General UN year’s At this funding. replenishment to addition in and from separate be should which support, However,67 donor countries. requires funding this in 355 children to for up million learning sustain COVID-19 its to that help says will fund GPE connection. internet and electricity to access without children and needs, special and disabilities with children girls, including children, disadvantaged and vulnerable most the prioritising re-opening, school and programmes learning distance support will financing This million. $500

in radio learning and online including en and learning centres. learning and wa ch me local languages in engagement community and formation campaigns, risk communications communications risk campaigns, formation ild protection suring continuous access to education, education, to access continuous suring ter and sanitation facility upgrades in schools schools in upgrades facility sanitation and ter ntal health and psychosocial support psychosocial and health ntal in-country to support ten multi-year multi-year ten support to in-country to its global fund and and fund global its to an an to borrow capital on the international markets at at markets international the on borrow capital to ‘Triple would their use A’ banks development rating multilateral the donors, provided by guarantees credit banks). Using development regional and World the (including Bank institutions financing international and donors private and public of aconsortium creating by for education money new, ODA blend with to additional aims IFFEd The 2030. by over of agap and billion $25 2020, by shortfall financing leave a$10would still education billion channels and multilateral domestic bilateral, through education on spending recommended the achieving showed that analysis their after Commission Education the by proposed was It architecture. financing education the in mechanism a forthcoming is for Education Facility Financing International The (IFFEd) Education for Facility Financing International The income countries face chronic funding shortfalls in in shortfalls funding face chronic countries income lower-middle- needs, critical these Despite people. young and children displaced and allof refugee 150 half well as than –as –more million children out-of-school of majority the countries), including low-income in million 200 (compared with countries live lower-middle-income in children world’s the of half school-age 1.4 billion Nearly Bangladesh. and Nigeria –India, countries are lower-middle-income poverty extreme in living people of number largest the with five nations the of Three for education. needs financing unmet and chronic haveand large, poverty absolute in people of numbers greatest the house countries These beneficiaries. primary the as ODA financing, grant education existing of majority vast for the are ineligible which countries, lower-middle-income target to is IFFEd’s focus spending. education in cuts deep of prospect the face countries lower-middle-income many report, this in we have highlighted As crisis. this to response the in play role to significant apotentially has IFFEd rate. evenan lower interest available at them making effectively loans, subsidise would which grants, donor with would blended be funds These market. private the in obtain could countries beneficiary the than rate lower interest a at provide loans would then banks development Multilateral available for education. not otherwise are that funds mobilise and rates interest reduced 4 BUILD BACK FOR BETTER LEARNING 69 195 come countries. in - more resources domestically – notably from reformingtheir tax systems – they still would rely on external financing. Nevertheless,financing ODA IFFEdfor should come on top of donors’ ODA education,for and not at the expense of to aid low the poorest countries, and transforming these into loans lower-middle-income for countries. IFFEd should not accept that aid otherwise would benefitedhave the poorest countries. DEBTSUSTAINABILITY When relying on the multilateral development banks’ assessments own of debt sustainability, countries risk borrowing more than they can cope with. Even if undertaking an exhaustive analysis, countries at moderate risk of debt distress not are necessarily safe from going straight to debt distress three of the (as last four countries in debt distress done). have All multilateral development banks should andadhere to the UN Conference on Trade Development principles responsible for lending and borrowing and the IMF’s updated framework of debt sustainability low-income for countries, which includes contingent liabilities and private debt. Loans should not be given to countries at moderate or high risk of debt distress, or in debt distress. spending on education. This must be a clear requisite IFFEd for financing. A financing gap cannot by taking be covered funds allocated to is sorely so needed, IFFEd financing must come on top of donor countries’ to aid education, and be additional to countries’ borrower domestic ADDITIONALITY For IFFEd to the have value-added effect that children. This requires practical support to countries to understand and assess equity needs, as as well stepping stone equity targets to be requirement a core in any investment case to apply IFFEd for funding. Furthermore, it requires accountability mechanisms to be in toplace honour these targets and a degree of transparency allowing public scrutiny of funding and policy implementation. must see a stronger requirement, not just a recommendation, countries borrower for to spend IFFEd financing on the most marginalised CHILDREN’S PRINCIPLES FOR THE DESIGN AND OPERATIONS OF IFFEd PROGRESSIVE UNIVERSALISM The international community is dangerously off track to reach SDG4, particularly are and we failing the most marginalised children. The crisis furtherCOVID-19 exacerbates this. IFFEd should, therefore, be a financing mechanism that helps fill the education financing gap thosefor children left furthest behind. We THE INTERNATIONAL FINANCING FACILITY FOR EDUCATION: SAVE THE FINANCING SAVE THE FOR INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION: FACILITY education.By 2030, they will account nearly for of the80% global billion) than shortfall $70 (more in international funding education, for taking even into account ambitious domestic budget increases and more efficient spending. Even if lower-middle- income countries put in measures place to mobilise 70 SAVE OUR EDUCATION that to deliver good quality pre-primary, primary primary pre-primary, quality good deliver to that The education area of focus ‘stole the show’ ‘stole the focus of area education The year.per $320 child per just to equates This community. international the provided by be should $11.9 that we estimated account, into billion Taking this assistance. for external level need of same have the countries hosting all refugee Not $21.5 would cost over billion. five years countries 18 3to aged low- in children middle-income and 7.5 to education refugee million secondary and deliver education to every refugee child refugee every to education deliver 2018Our report EDUCATION REFUGEE FOR FINANCING Global Framework on Refugee Education. Refugee Framework on Global the of support in made pledges financial and 2019, policy of December hundreds with in Forum Refugee Global first-ever the at basis. basis. annual) (at aregular on least reported pledges on progress with continue must momentum This Time to Act: A costed plan to plan to Acosted Act: to Time 196 showed 198

197

to help it recover from the COVID-19 recover it the from help to pandemic. particularly for refugees, education to allocated be should it of part asignificant and development welcome and avital is new funding this sources, appeal humanitarian traditional beyond looks for refugees and host communities. These funds funds These communities. host and for refugees education of support in efforts global of financing and coordination improve to collaboration, pledge ajoint announced ECW and GPE the Bank, World the Forum, Refugee Global the at Also publication and implementation of this plan. this of implementation and publication We the await eagerly operationalised. be will commitment how this about aplan mid-2020, than later no by publish, to step afirst as committed Association. Development International the of replenishment recent the of part is This years. three next the over communities host and for refugees window sub- adedicated available in be will billion $2.2 to up World announced the Bank Forum, At the 199 Given the need for financing that that for financing need the Given

Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Bazar, Cox’s in refugees Rohingya for acamp in home her near 11, stands Marium, PHOTO: JONATHAN HYAMS/SAVE THE CHILDREN THE HYAMS/SAVE JONATHAN PHOTO: 4 BUILD BACK FOR BETTER LEARNING 71

for efficientfor and effective education funding mechanisms and efficiencies within education systems. With the uncertain nature of the pandemic, not only countries are responding in different ways, but their responses on a daily and weekly evolve basis as the pandemic advances and changes. need flexible andWe responsive funding mechanisms that ensure funding reaches the most vulnerable and that willchildren enable faster, governments and technical specialists to quick make and decisive adaptations to address the ever-changing challenges and context to learning. protect child’s every Save the Children is the only NGO Global Cluster Lead Agency, jointly leading the Global Education Cluster with UNICEF and leading/co-leading national education clusters of the25 in 21 education clusters at country level. Save the Children also has a leadership in at least role national 23 education in emergencies working groups – and participates in many other national coordination mechanisms. These coordination mechanisms play a critical in ensuring role that education responses timely,are predictable and effective. In addition, as child-focused, a international, civil society Save the its Children can leverage uniqueactor, cluster to role promote the of children voice on important international commitments, such as the Grand Bargain. Improving financing efficiencies crisis has affirmedThe COVID-19 the critical need Exploring different funding models that enable greater flexibility but maintain accountability would support programming teams and governments to adapt and flex to demands evolving as part of this crisis. For example, ECW responded quickly to the crisis and this resulted in a relatively efficient release Donorsand multilateral funds need to towards work aligned funding and reporting processes that enable stretched government staff and programming teams to focus on rapid, good quality delivery. The onerous demands of different processes and reporting timeframes and structures can compete with critical and urgent needs, especially of those who most are vulnerable. aligned towards Working processes that complement one another and ensure the flexibility and speed of responses is essential. Increasing flexibility current for funding or new will alsosupport faster effectivemoreand programming. The plan commits 201 . Global Action Plan Healthy for This perfectly encapsulates the task 200 While the health sector is by no means perfect, education could learn a lot from it in establishing collective leadership and action. For example, in 2018, at the suggestion of Germany, Ghana and Norway, global health organisations 12 came together to the develop Lives and Well-being All for donors, developing country governments and wider stakeholders both how the existing and emerging education architecture aid works. are adequatelyare resourced. Differentagencies, such as the GPE, ECW and forthcoming IFFEd complementary have mandates, andoffer all different comparative advantages in closing the education financing gap. But to donoravoid fatigue and risks of confusion over the purpose of different sources of funding, it is critical that the education sector explicitly defines mandates, roles and responsibilities to clarify to mechanisms operating simultaneouslyin a sector can lead to duplication and other cost inefficiencies. It is therefore important that these mechanisms The global education sector could be strengthened in a number of ways. Issues it faces include a lack of agreed leadership, under-resourced coordination, lack of technical capacity and financing, and an absence of clear accountability mechanisms. Bilateral and multilateral donors must be coordinated and must be complementary. Conversely, too many donors andfunding wider international community in addressing the challenge of delivering SDG4 made – now more urgent than due to ever COVID-19. facing both the global education sector and the framework for assessingframework for and reporting on results. the 12 organisationsthe to align 12 and coordinate their to accelerate progresswork better, in global health through cross-cutting seven areas, and to strengthen accountability by developing a common and a focus on solutions the that move would “fromworld commitments to actions andonwards to results”. General Assembly, UN Secretary-General António Guterres a commitment called for to a decade of delivery and greater called for ambition, urgency STRENGTHENING THE GLOBAL ARCHITECTURE EDUCATION inWriting preparation the for Sustainable Development SummitUnited at the Nations 2019 72 SAVE OUR EDUCATION from this crisis and that if the right investments are investments right the if that and crisis this from However, learned be can lessons we believe that reverse. in put be will made been has that progress the that risks are serious Now there 2030. by all children for education aquality of promise its meeting in track off dangerously world already was The COVID-19 SDG4. achieving to pose closures school that risks the of some highlighted has report This EDUCATION SYSTEMS BACK BETTER BUILD consequences. irreversible in resulted and hold have taken crisis the of severest implications the before education, girls’ like COVID-19 acrisis of ramifications on term longer the to measure preventative arapid models initiative This example. such one is provision, nutrition and campaigns community through began, closures school when girls protect and reach to Leone’s response Sierra of immediate government The quickly. more much vulnerable most the reach can funding targeted ensure to necessary be also may people displaced internally and refugees disabilities, with children girls, groups, for marginalised funding specific Exploring faster. responses country the reaches funding critical the of amount agreater ensure to replicated possible where and consolidated be should success this from learned Lessons programming. existing to adaptations necessary and responses rapid ensure to funding critical of PHOTO: JORDI MATAS/SAVE THE CHILDREN 1. analysis: inclusion social and equality gender astrong with exploration, for further key issues as areas following the suggests but detail, in lessons these explore not does report This towards SDG4. progress accelerate help can how and they lessons these understand to required is research more and crisis, this from learn to alot be will There school. in remain and to return children marginalised other and girls ensure to analysis inclusion social and equality gender by informed be should they systems, education resilient improved and back build work to stakeholders other and donors countries, As schools. its reopen to world begins the –as children marginalised most for the –particularly progress accelerate we instead could place, in put policies and made

the process of rebuilding after the pandemic, one one pandemic, the after rebuilding of process the learning due to social and cultural restrictions. cultural and social to due for girls support ﬂexible including children, reach hardest-to- the support to used be should These were closed. all schools place while in put models learning remote fromthe lessons learn should we possible, not is school into physically children getting Where schedules. classroom adapted have away and/or they straight school to return safely cannot children vulnerable if or crises, COVID-19 to due close again to need other or opened, are partially schools case in learning classroom and remote both using models learning blended in made be should investments Increasing learning. to connected children school out-of- getting of challenge the complete to for governments is opportunities biggest the of Get out-of-school children connected to to connected children out-of-school : As schools reopen and countries begin begin countries and reopen schools : As in Kenya. in aclass during Simon teacher development childhood Early 4 BUILD BACK FOR BETTER LEARNING 73

PHOTO: JONAS GRATZER/SAVE THE CHILDREN : : Review and : Review : National governments : These should address velop and scale up effective data ild resilient education systems that form curriculums to ensure they are crease provision of protection, management systems with support from the international community must Open develop Education Management Information Systems to collect and manage data to help inform decision-making from classroom to schoolto and local national levels. a At minimum,data must be disaggregated by gender, age, disability and language/mother tongue. better prepare and reduce risks of future crises suchas climate-related disasters, slow-onset climate impacts and displacement, including through infrastructure improved and safe routes to school. In mental health and psychosocial support services in schools gender-based violence, stigmatisation and discrimination and support children and their families, as as well promote wellbeing through the use of socioemotional learning activities with links to youth-friendly and fully accessible referral mechanisms. Re torelevant children’s lives therevise national curriculum to be gender transformative and to ensure children and young people the have knowledge and skills thefor environmental, social and economic including Educationreality for post-COVID-19, Sustainable Development. De Bu are prepared for hazards and risks that so Apply lessons learned from COVID-19, governments and whole school communities can

6. 7. 8. 5. : One of the : During the “Since : Maintain up and innovative scale ntain and scale teacher up innovative vest in pre-primary education ith parents and caregivers be made to increase recruitment, training and career development female for teachers. Mai professional development and wellbeing support ongoing teacher professional development resources and activities created during school closures, such as onlineCOVID-19 professional development, coaching, or use of tutors to help bring capacity development efforts to more rapidly. scale Particular efforts should ensuring the poorest and most marginalised children the have same chances in school as their better off peers. at household level, is attending a pre-primary programme. brain development 90% of a child’s takes before place their ﬁfth birthday. Children who do not receive adequate health, nutrition, protection, and stimulation care in their early years to more likely are do poorly in school and earn less income, entrenching a lifetime of unfairness and poverty. Pre-primary education is a critical intervention achieving for equity and strongest interventions supporting for a child’s development, learning and readiness school, for regardless of income both levels nationally and In children’s education the more childrenchildren’s learn and relationships within the family improve. wellbeing. These efforts should be capitalised on and scaled, as evidence shows that the more parents in their and caregivers involved are Continue and build on connections made w crisis, tools new and guidance COVID-19 have been developed to assistparents and caregivers to home school their children and support their

4. 3. the textbooks are very few, sometimes I do not get to have someone to speciﬁcally read for me in cases where the textbook is not available in Braille. I love school. I feel good here and I feel safe.” 2. Mariam, in 15, Malawi, has been blind since she was six years old. She says 74 SAVE OUR EDUCATION

PHOTO: STEFANIE GLINSKI/SAVE THE CHILDREN proficient in reading. in proficient are not children school-aged primary late 93% of aresult, As qualifications. appropriate have not the do country the in teachers the of half Over education. lower for community-based female. are teachers of third one only and are girls-only, However,rare. 16% just Afghanistan’s of schools being schools mixed-gender with lines, gender along delivered often is education children, older For are girls. 60% school, of are out that children 3.7 million the Of infrastructure. education poor by particular, in are affected Girls, in school in enrolled are not children school-aged primary education. children’s to access guarantees equal which passed, was Rights Child of Protection the on 2019, March In years. Law recent in the made However, been conflict. has progress some of over by decades four devastated been has Afghanistan in infrastructure education The AFGHANISTAN ON SPOTLIGHT to school, often due to sexual harassment. sexual to due often school, to way their on unsafe feel they that reported girls 51% study, Children the aSave In of education. their for continuing stigmatised feel often also can Girls school. to girls their send not will hinders their school attendance. school their hinders This the South Asia region. Asia South the average for the below 78% is which child, aged school- $196 just primary per schools, spent is low. is education in public Across Investment 206 203 Without female teachers, most families families most teachers, female Without 202 – approximately 3.7 million children. children. 3.7 million –approximately of of 50% remain. challenges many But 205 204

This number is even is number This 207

around 328,000 children. 328,000 around affecting insecurity, to were due closed forcibly Further, 2019, in Afghanistan across schools 722 against education facilities and personnel. and facilities education against threats and personnel, education of abduction and injury, killing, the schools, damaging incidentally or targeting attacks including education, to access affecting 70 incidents veriﬁed Afghanistan in Mission Assistance UN 2019, In conﬂict. of the astate in raised and born have been country the in children All the Ministry of Education to ensure that distance distance that ensure to Education of Ministry the by established been yet has policy No learners. 10 million than more 14 affecting 2020, March on closures school announced Afghanistan of government COVID-19 the the to Due outbreak, in communities and radio materials. and communities in distribute to for teachers materials paper-based developing includes This behind. left is child no that ensure to contexts various to appropriate materials learning distance implement and design to partners We with are coordinating children. deprived and marginalised most the reach available to modalities learning distance of range abroader makes Education of Ministry the that ensure to are advocating we education, in disruption the to response In internet. the through 0.2% and programming, TV, through radio 13.8% through programmes learning distance access can children of 28.6% just provinces, Afghan six across that shows research Our children. all affected reaches learning 209 attacks. and bombers suicide kidnappings, of afraid is and back, and there way his on threats many faces he but school to going loves He province. Kabul in Children the Save by up set a school attends 10, Hemat, 208

5 Recommendations: keep learning alive in the COVID-19 pandemic

With the Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4), the global community committed to realising the right to quality education for all children and adolescents. The COVID-19 crisis puts this promise into more jeopardy than ever before. Yet education could play a critical role in the COVID-19 response to protect public health, keep children safe, and promote mental health and psychosocial wellbeing. Now more than ever is the time for that promise to be honoured.

While some countries are better prepared for 1. PLAN: AGREE AND IMPLEMENT providing learning continuity for children during A GLOBAL COVID-19 EDUCATION school closures than others, it is likely that the most marginalised girls and boys in all contexts ACTION PLAN are struggling to access distance learning, and are This global education emergency requires a not getting the support they need. Many national coordinated global education response that is well- education systems already face considerable planned, adequately monitored and accountable. An challenges as a result of conflict and displacement, ambitious, but tangible global COVID-19 education environmental emergencies and a lack of funding. action plan should be urgently developed focusing COVID-19 further compounds these challenges. on making progress on the three priority needs set Countries are under huge pressure in responding out within this report for the coming one to two to the pandemic, and already insufficient education years to overcome this crisis: budgets risk being reduced. The poorest and most • Keep learning alive during school closure through marginalised groups are most at risk of never inclusive distance learning. returning to school and instead face being forced • Support every child to return to school when it’s into child labour and/or child marriage. safe to do so. The impact of schools closing on a generation • Build back better and more resilient education of children will be immense. This is an systems education emergency that requires It should focus on assessing the current needs in action today. order to secure learning outcomes in pre-primary The world needs to come together and and basic education. In the spirit of the Leave protect education during this time of crisis, as No One Behind principle, it should target action it is at the very heart of the global recovery for the furthest-behind countries and for the effort. Governments and donors must act on the poorest and most marginalised children. Particular following five areas to overcome this crisis and build activities should be aligned to progressing back better towards achieving SDG4 in 2030. enrolment and learning outcomes of refugees and internally displaced children, girls, and children with disabilities. The action plan must align and accelerate efforts towards SDG4 and allocate responsibilities for its delivery and key accountabilities to developing countries and to the international community.

75 76 SAVE OUR EDUCATION education investment case. A global high Aglobal case. investment education global would provide This aunified SDG4. achieving worktowards to and crisis the to respond to required funding the out set should plan The it. implement to required resources the has plan action education global the ensure to funding COVID-19 of aresult is that crisis committing by education deepening the address and youth and children of ageneration of wellbeing and learning the protect to We donors and governments call on 2. • FINANCING INTERNATIONAL donors. international from required be will support Significant recession. alikely global during education on spending increase vastly to able be will countries low- middle-income and that unlikely is it mobilisation, resource fromdomestic come should for education funding of majority the While announced. be can plan the of support in announcements financial and political year, convened this be should where meeting

PHOTO: TIM MUIR/SAVE THE CHILDREN – banks: development Wo F INVEST: TO COMMIT INCREASED

UNDING FOR EDUCATION FOR UNDING credit guarantees, potentially including IFFEd. including potentially guarantees, credit donor and issues bond through sheet balance leveraging be its also WorldThe should Bank $10bn ﬁnancing. grant at in least with years, two next over $35bn the around of IDA budget asupplementary provide Th rld Bank and the multilateral multilateral the and Bank rld e World Bank’s shareholders should should e World shareholders Bank’s - le vel

• •

resilience programmes. resilience multi-year support to in-country $2 billion and fund global its to million $300 additional an 2021, of donors from end the requires it to up period strategic its of remainder for the COVID-19 for the gaps and funding response Ed 2021 replenishment. for their funding to addition in and separate be should This COVID-19. to response emergency its funding in assist to GPE to $10 country per million least at contribute should donors OECD other Glob – –

ucation Cannot Wait Cannot ucation priority areas, such as education. as such areas, priority in invested is savings fromdebt up freed children. in investments into payments service debt suspended converts that afacility create to governments national and UNICEF Th 2020. in payments debt scheduled $14bn on suspending creditors private with participate, should creditors private and public All repayments. over debt spending domestic prioritise should DSSI covered the by countries 73 the conditions, nutritional worsening and poverty child rising emergency, 2020/2021. during payments service debt of $48bn on afreeze secure to Initiative Suspension Service Debt the strengthen to IMF Th al Partnership for Education for al Partnership e World Bank should work with with work e World should Bank the with work e World should Bank This would ensure that money money that would ensure This Faced with an education education an with Faced classroom. the in up keep to conﬂict by devastated been have lives whose children disadvantaged help to designed programme, learning remedial Children’s the Save of part is Ruba territory. Palestinian occupied the in together homework do cousin her and Ruba : To the fulﬁl : G7 and 5 RECOMMENDATIONS: KEEP LEARNING ALIVE IN THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC 77

establish a should document , in particular to IDA . by tackling illicit . Specifically, governments and tional governments that granted are debt l creditors – both official and commercial – ternational institutions and their member ommunity should support efforts to mobilise should offer an immediate cancellation of all principal, interest and charges for the remainder of 2020 countries, and on call private creditors to do the same. governments should urgently comprehensive debt resolution mechanism that bases analyses of debt sustainability on the ability country’s toborrower fulfil human rights, and assesses the legitimacy of the debt. increased investments in child welfare, including education Al Donor governments and the international c domestic revenues financial flows and tax avoidance and by strengthening international tax cooperation institutions should support efforts to introduce automatic exchange of tax information, public registries of beneficial ownership, and public country-by-country reporting on relevant financial information by multinational companies. In Na suspensions or debt relief

DEBT RELIEF • • • • – with thepurpose of : The IFFEd an important could prove ivate sector foundations should step up ducation

multinational companies harmful andremove tax incentives such as tax holidays. in education. This should be done by progressive taxes that redistributive are and gender sensitive. Governments should analyse their taxation of National governments should seek to increase their domestic revenues by expanding their tax base increasing their investments in children including education support. Pr funding the for education response and provide technical advice and access to innovative education solutions. degree of concessionality unsustainable to avoid debt burdens; it must not come at the cost to low-incomeof ODA countries or other E of educationsource ﬁnancing lower-middle- for income countries. A’ By using the ‘Triple rating of multilateral development agencies it provides through a vehicle which investments in education could be ﬁnanced by borrowing. IFFEd funding must: be equitable by making the principle of progressive universalism an absolute requirement; and adhere to the strictest debt sustainability framework, a strong providing The International Financing Facility for PHOTO: ROBIC UPADHAYAY/SAVE THE CHILDREN THE UPADHAYAY/SAVE ROBIC PHOTO:

DOMESTIC RESOURCE MOBILISATION • • • Students enjoying study time at school in Nepal before the pandemic. 78 SAVE OUR EDUCATION • • • BY:LEARNING DISTANCE INCLUSIVE THROUGH CLOSURE SCHOOL DURING ALIVE LEARNING KEEP learning. keep to are able children marginalised most the ensure to action targeted with recovery plans and COVID-19 national response education implement and produce should governments National 3. • •

learning materials, with a focus on reaching reaching on afocus with materials, learning printed and radio instruction interactive learning, programmes learning Pr policies. domestic counters that advice policy or conditions harmful other promote or salaries, teacher or sector education the to cuts demand or propose to not so as reforms, structural budgets education protect In 2020. in payments debt for stopping agovernment suing prevent lender to any legislation pass should York, New and UK the especially jurisdictions, lenders external private to debt c moves any by support should G20 The resources and guidance. guidance. and resources right the with programming learning distance for support and provide and training teachers, existing retain to closures school after and teachers of incentives En activities. and resources tips, of promotion and development at home learning children’s in role teachers’ and parents’ for support En norms. gender harmful address and objectives health public and protection, child support, psychosocial and health mental learning, refugees and children displaced internally disabilities, with children children, youngest the girls, the CHILDREN ARE LEARNING ARE CHILDREN E SHOULD INTERVENTIONS LEARN: ountry to stop making payments on on payments making stop to ountry oviding effective, flexible and inclusive flexible oviding effective, NSURE THE MOST MARGINALISED MARGINALISED MOST THE NSURE ternational financial institutions must must institutions financial ternational suring the the suring include strategies learning distance that suring most marginalised children, including including children, marginalised most continued payment and and payment continued . These should support early early support should . These and school staff during during staff school and , including digital digital , including when they advise advise they when through through , and key, and distance distance • • • • • TO BY: SO DO SAFE IT’S WHEN SCHOOL TO TO RETURN EVERY CHILD SUPPORTING

marginalised groups of children who are at who children of groups marginalised school in children keep help to protection social expand Cr frontline of the response and recovery. and response the of frontline the of part as schools in new circumstances to teachers for support Pr mothers. child or married, are pregnant, they if education their continuing from prevent girls that norms social education Ad change. climate including education children’s to shocks future from protect to time over beneﬁts child towards universal working progressively deprived, and marginalised most the include and gender-responsive be must programmes Coverage these of school. from and to transportation safe ensuring and population, student marginalised most the with schools to grants block increasing fees, school freezing grants, school feeding, school transfers, cash –including protection social of types and coverage up Scale out. dropping of risk highest programmes education accelerated and programmes, remedial classes, catch-up including interventions targeted and blanket inform to school to return their on assessment Pr school. to return children marginalised most the support to initiatives well as as opening, school safe in conﬁdence community and of raise awareness to education, for girls’ support and mobilisation community campaigns School’ to ‘Back Cr oviding professional development and and development professional oviding oviding every child with a learning alearning with every child oviding eate targeted interventions and and interventions targeted eate eating inclusive and gender sensitive sensitive gender and inclusive eating dressing gender-related barriers to to barriers gender-related dressing , including laws, policies, and harmful harmful and policies, laws, , including . , particularly the most most the , particularly so that they can adapt adapt can they so that , including , including

PHOTO: HANNA ADCOCK/SAVE THE CHILDREN 5 RECOMMENDATIONS: KEEP LEARNING ALIVE IN THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC 79 MPLEMENTATION OF THE PLAN MPLEMENTATION TRACK: PROGRESS ON I AND FINANCE COMMITTED ACHIEVING NEEDSTO IT BE TRACKEDTO

civil society. middle- low-, Every government and high-income (of as ascountries), well international organisations should report quarterly to the website on progress made national towards education COVID-19 response plans. This data could then inform consolidated quarterly reports, and be used to analyse trends and course correct the planas required. UNESCO should collate learning and scale and good practice from the education response to build better quality and resilient education systems. 5. It is important the education community urgently meets to coordinate action and lead on tracking progress on the three priority needs the for education response.COVID-19 A public website should track and report on progress regularly. This process could be led by UNESCO, and needs to include members representing a diverse set of mandates and perspectives, as as well including young people. It could include and middle- low- income governments, Bank, the World GPE, ECW, EducationGlobal Education International, Cluster, UNICEF, UNHCR, some major donors and

, where possible. that includes the safe o children who normally rely t suring that schools are safe nimising the use of schools as health RE HEALTHY, SAFEAND WELL RE HEALTHY, oviding mental healthand psychosocial nd referral systems be can adapted for WHILE OUT OF SCHOOL AND WHEN THEY RETURN BY: PROTECT: ENSURE ALL CHILDREN PROTECT: A distancing requirements. preparedness Develop plans in case schools need to again close due to localised outbreaks. protocols, gender responsive facilities, WASH menstrual hygiene management kits, additional classrooms and stafﬁng to enable physical environments for children to return to including health and safety infrastructure and well aswell empowerment, addressing stigmaand speciﬁcally targeting gender-based violence. Providing sexual and reproductive health and rights programming distribution of menstrual hygiene kits to girls, as En Mi facilities and quarantine sites Ensuring that child protection reporting a times of school closure. Pr support services for children and youth and linking them to additional services when necessary and available. Providing food on school meals,whether by take-home rations, vouchers, or cash schemes.

Children play with a balloon at a reading club facilitated by an early years teacher, Jun Rey, in a rural village in Mindanao, Philippines. • • • • • • 4. Annex 1: Vulnerability Index

We know that COVID-19 is likely to lead to an increase in the number of out-of-school children, either because children do not return to school when schools reopen, or they drop out because of the lost learning they have experienced while schools have been closed.

We looked at three critical vulnerabilities that we believe are likely to impact the likelihood of children dropping out of school:

Index dimension Source Comments

1. Rate of children UNESCO/GEM Report: An overall out-of-school rate currently out of school World Inequality Database has been calculated weighting (before COVID-19) on Education (WIDE) education level-speciﬁc out-of- school rates with school age population of this level. Latest available data 2012 or later.

2. Equity gaps in UNESCO/GEM Report: We derive ratios from out- out-of-school rates World Inequality Database of-school rates according on Education (WIDE) to wealth (poorest quintile/ richest quintile) and gender (girls/boys). Both indicators within this index dimension have the same weight. Latest available data 2012 or later.

3. Learning outcomes World Bank We use learning-adjusted years of schooling.

All indicators are being normalised between 0 and 1 using a min–max approach, with 1 being the minimum value/worst outcome and 0 the maximum value observed for each indicator in any country. Each index dimension has the same weight (1/3) in the calculation of the index. Risks in the index are categorised based on the index values: countries with index values > 0.55 are “extreme risk”, 0.45–0.55 “high risk”, 0.35–0.45 “moderate risk”, 0.20–0.35 “reduced risk” and smaller than 0.20 “low risk”.

ANNEX 1: VULNERABILITY INDEX 81 Risk

Extreme risk Extreme risk Extreme risk Extreme risk Extreme risk Extreme risk Extreme risk Extreme risk Extreme risk Extreme risk Extreme risk Extreme risk High risk High risk High risk High risk High risk High risk High risk High risk High risk High risk High risk High risk Moderate risk Moderate risk Moderate risk Vulnerability index Vulnerability

0.75 0.69 0.69 0.64 0.64 0.64 0.61 0.59 0.57 0.57 0.56 0.56 0.53 0.52 0.52 0.51 0.50 0.49 0.49 0.48 0.47 0.46 0.46 0.45 0.45 0.44

years of schooling of years Learning-adjusted Learning-adjusted

2.61 2.64 2.34 4.87 4.54 3.42 4.13 4.25 4.78 4.78 4.21 4.42 4.84 4.82 4.11 4.51 0.51 5.73 4.67 4.52 5.50 3.75 4.45 5.08 5.70 5.57 5.25

(relative)

school rate by sex sex by rate school Difference in out-of- in Difference

1.17 1.10 2.74 1.28 1.04 1.82 1.43 1.76 1.13 1.30 1.01 1.37 1.11 1.10 0.97 1.19 1.04 1.32 1.69 1.06 1.40 0.96 1.09 0.99 1.04 1.16

girls Out-of-school rate, rate, Out-of-school

67.66 55.90 54.86 43.01 55.02 43.97 0.98 35.08 40.32 43.58 44.30 31.32 37.97 38.42 25.17 33.15 35.97 20.82 28.86 25.49 22.31 24.23 27.91 30.86 21.40 1.55 23.71

boys Out-of-school rate, rate, Out-of-school

58.05 50.83 42.97 41.22 38.35 45.04 19.98 35.84 33.52 44.03 27.76 37.93 34.54 39.51 21.24 31.96 27.25 12.33 27.26 18.22 23.31 22.27 28.22 29.60 13.79 20.51

(relative)

school rate by wealth wealth by rate school Difference in out-of- in Difference

2.02 3.57 2.42 2.84 2.16 30.13 54.74 3.62 3.24 4.28 5.92 4.87 2.78 2.25 8.11 28.11 2.07 6.73 2.66 3.60 2.67 3.75 6.24 1.19 1.58 2.81 1.41 1.85 2.31

richest Out-of-school rate, rate, Out-of-school

37.98 21.88 23.39 21.75 22.66 20.12 19.45 11.37 12.56 13.59 23.43 21.73 5.76 20.72 31.07 1.72 6.51 18.00 14.71 9.35 11.76 6.23 23.11 19.85 16.92 23.59 13.54 14.44

poorest Out-of-school rate, rate, Out-of-school

76.68 78.04 56.54 61.71 48.92 72.75 62.97 48.67 74.32 66.16 48.87 46.73 42.98 53.37 47.82 52.94 24.96 44.14 38.89 27.52 31.35 47.57 33.36 25.01 33.30

national Out-of-school rate, rate, Out-of-school

62.94 53.31 48.79 42.10 41.95 46.84 44.48 27.50 38.04 38.32 44.19 65.19 32.81 29.72 36.28 38.96 23.26 43.82 32.61 31.45 16.55 28.09 21.89 22.82 28.08 30.22 17.51 Country Niger Mali Chad Liberia Afghanistan Guinea Mauritania Yemen Nigeria Pakistan Senegal Côte d’Ivoire Sudan The Gambia Tanzania Angola Ethiopia Benin DRC Sierra Leone Cameroon Rwanda Uganda 23.32 Burundi Ghana Togo Zambia 22.09 82 SAVE OUR EDUCATION Costa Rica Costa Brazil Mexico Guyana Algeria Republic Dominican Kenya Gabon Lesotho Tajikistan Timor-Leste Eswatini Nepal Tunisia Malawi Myanmar Egypt Namibia El Salvador El Haiti Zimbabwe Cambodia Bangladesh India Comoros Guatemala Country 10.72 .96.12 5.19 9.74 11.35 9.48 8.16 13.12 7.76 13.39 10.15 12.73 5.44 16.26 13.34 10.14 91 29.86 19.14 10.96 13.98 74 71 7.46 27.14 17.45 14.33 19.16 25.98 23.86 14.14 18.39 22.31 Out-of-school rate, national 17.61 14.78 14.77 16.14 14.47 24.63 12.43 20.09 11.89 21.83 6.47 13.93 25.24 15.93 16.17 16.66 27 5.36 22.79 22.81 34.21 30.03 23.63 32.09 31.93 Out-of-school rate, poorest 4.28 2.52 4.42 5.94 4.36 3.56 11.20 4.93 6.07 7.80 5.01 5.25 7.40 3.13 5.95 8.93 3.81 8.53 13.07 16.85 19.95 .65.96 3.96 9.95 7.39 Out-of-school rate, richest 4.12 2.43 3.34 2.49 3.70 4.06 2.20 2.52 3.31 1.52 4.35 1.23 1.88 8.07 2.68 3.34 4.24 1.95 3.64 4.25 1.75 2.03 1.51 3.23 4.32 Difference in out-of- school rate by wealth (relative) 11.59 5.43 9.22 12.61 10.08 9.12 12.79 8.31 15.96 8.05 13.59 4.68 14.93 14.02 9.94 92 19.12 19.27 9.83 13.75 16.88 12.98 80 20.33 18.03 25.90 23.54 12.96 17.59 19.40 Out-of-school rate, boys 9.81 .60.91 4.96 10.29 10.09 8.89 7.09 13.49 7.21 10.65 12.30 11.82 6.19 17.40 12.62 10.21 12.07 14.24 18.01 15.67 26.00 24.12 15.46 19.03 25.22 Out-of-school rate, girls 0.85 1.12 0.80 0.88 0.78 1.06 0.87 0.67 1.53 0.87 1.32 1.17 0.90 1.03 0.99 1.23 1.04 1.07 1.21 1.13 1.00 1.02 1.19 1.08 1.30 Difference in out-of- school rate by sex (relative) 8.58 7.63 8.64 6.69 6.84 6.33 7.79 6.03 5.50 7.67 5.86 5.74 6.89 6.27 5.39 6.70 6.34 5.82 6.55 6.29 6.35 6.90 6.50 5.78 5.30 6.29 Learning-adjusted years of schooling 0.23 0.24 0.26 0.29 0.29 0.29 0.29 0.30 0.33 0.33 0.34 0.35 0.35 0.35 0.36 0.36 0.36 0.36 0.36 0.38 0.38 0.38 0.39 0.40 0.41 0.43 Vulnerability index Reduced risk Reduced Reduced risk Reduced Reduced risk Reduced Reduced risk Reduced Reduced risk Reduced Reduced risk Reduced Reduced risk Reduced Reduced risk Reduced Reduced risk Reduced Reduced risk Reduced Reduced risk Reduced Reduced risk Reduced Reduced risk Reduced Moderate risk Moderate Moderate risk Moderate Moderate risk Moderate Moderate risk Moderate Moderate risk Moderate Moderate risk Moderate Moderate risk Moderate Moderate risk Moderate Moderate risk Moderate Moderate risk Moderate Moderate risk Moderate Moderate risk Moderate Moderate risk Moderate Risk

ANNEX 1: VULNERABILITY INDEX 83 Risk

Reduced risk Reduced risk Reduced risk Reduced risk Reduced risk Reduced risk Reduced risk Reduced risk Reduced risk Low risk Low risk Low risk Low risk Low risk Low risk Low risk Low risk Low risk Vulnerability index Vulnerability

0.23 0.23 0.22 0.22 0.22 0.21 0.21 0.21 0.20 0.20 0.19 0.19 0.18 0.18 0.17 0.15 0.13 0.05 0.02 Lowrisk

years of schooling of years Learning-adjusted Learning-adjusted

8.28 7.61 8.88 11.15 8.64 7.86 8.86 8.46 10.21 7.50 8.55 8.87 8.44 9.67 9.45 10.20 11.47 11.90

(relative)

school rate by sex sex by rate school Difference in out-of- in Difference

0.95 0.71 8.21 1.17 0.53 0.71 0.73 1.01 0.79 0.92 0.41 0.77 0.80 0.71 0.81 0.43 0.92 0.63 0.61

girls Out-of-school rate, rate, Out-of-school

7.92 4.73 0.72 6.85 6.14 2.96 8.25 4.10 5.51 5.60 9.79 3.89 3.26 4.08 3.94 6.74 3.58 3.51

boys Out-of-school rate, rate, Out-of-school

8.30 6.57 9.61 5.23 5.64 11.60 5.63 5.44 7.13 10.65 9.57 4.25 5.13 5.58 8.33 8.30 3.84 1.92 1.21 1.64 1.00

(relative)

school rate by wealth wealth by rate school Difference in out-of- in Difference

2.21 5.10 5.57 1.67 35.81 3.43 2.67 2.25 7.50 2.25 3.82 3.85 2.60 2.13 8.18 0.64 2.05 0.79

richest Out-of-school rate, rate, Out-of-school

5.23 2.06 3.11 5.27 0.31 3.99 2.36 3.03 3.18 3.14 2.85 3.81 2.21 1.95 1.93 5.38 1.57 5.18 1.23

poorest Out-of-school rate, rate, Out-of-school

10.49 17.31 8.83 11.21 13.66 6.30 6.83 9.96 21.39 8.58 8.44 7.52 5.02 11.44 12.87 3.30 2.52

national Out-of-school rate, rate, Out-of-school

8.11 11.56 5.70 8.26 5.63 4.41 9.97 4.91 5.48 6.38 10.21 6.80 3.79 4.58 4.77 7.63 6.04 3.67 1.62 1.32 1.47 1.87 Country Peru Jordan Moldova Georgia Serbia Thailand Armenia Ecuador Colombia Vietnam Occupied Palestinian territory Montenegro Argentina Kyrgyz Republic China Mongolia Ukraine Kazakhstan Russian Federation Annex 2: Financing gap

ANALYSIS OF PUBLIC SPENDING Government expenditures ON EDUCATION IN LOW- AND We use estimates by the IMF’s World Economic MIDDLE-INCOME COUNTRIES Outlook from October 2019 to calculate IN THE TIME OF COVID-19 government expenditure as proportion of GDP before 2020. We use comparable data from the METHODOLOGY World Bank’s World Development Indicators for countries with missing data. For some remaining To estimate the shift in ﬁscal space and the countries where data is still lacking, we use consequences this may have on social spending, estimates from the World Bank’s Macro Poverty we need three sources of information: Outlook (June 2020) until 2019. If data series end 1. gross domestic product before 2019, we extend estimates using the annual 2. government expenditures rate of change of the IMF data for countries in 3. proportion of government spending towards the same region and income group. This method education. provides estimates of government expenditures as We rely on estimates and projections for three share of GDP before 2020 as well as in a business scenarios: a) before 2020, b) business as usual as usual scenario (without COVID-19) for 2020 scenario assuming no pandemic in 2020/2021, and 2021. c) COVID-19 affecting the global economy in To estimate the effect of COVID-19, we use 2020/2021 (with various assumptions). annual rates of change between 2019 and 2021 of government expenditure estimates from the World GDP Bank’s Macro Poverty Outlook from June 2020 We use GDP estimates from the World Bank (based on the Global Economic Prospects of the same (measured in constant 2010 US$) until 2018. We use month) and apply those changes to the pre-2020 data projections of GDP growth for 2019 based on the series. For countries for which this data does not World Bank’s Global Economic Prospects from June exist, we apply the annual rate of change of countries 2020 and the IMF’s World Economic Outlook from in the same region and income group. April 2020 to estimate the GDP in 2019. To estimate a business as usual scenario without Proportion of government spending COVID-19, we use GDP growth projections for 2020 towards education and 2021 from before the pandemic hit the global We use government expenditure on education scene (World Bank’s Global Economic Prospects measured as a percentage of total government from January 2020 and the IMF’s World Economic expenditure as provided by the World Bank World Outlook from October 2019). Development Indicators/UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS). We assume that this proportion To estimate the impact of COVID-19 on countries’ does not change beyond the latest available data GDP, we reply on the most recent estimates of the point. Similarly, we use the proportion of spending World Bank’s Global Economic Prospects from June on primary and secondary education as a share 2020, which provides GDP growth projections for of total education spending. We use data from 2020 and 2021. UNESCO UIS on the school age population by level of education when weighting income level/regional averages or computing per child expenditures.

84 ANNEX 2: FINANCING GAP 85 ). In this). scenario, public 210 equivalent to a 4.3% drop in the share of budgets governments allocate education. towards In this scenario, the economic and fiscal consequences of the pandemic will reduce government spending by US$22bn in 2020. This gap could increase to another US$55bn Both in in 2021. absolute as well as relative terms, lower-middle-income countries particularlyare affected by fiscal consequences and subsequently their ability to spend on education be reduced.would In the pessimistic scenario, assume we drop in a 10% the share of budgets governments allocate towards education to a comparable (equivalent analysis by Bankthe in May World PRELIMINARY RESULTS The table on thenext page shows the preliminary results the for scenarios five described above. The optimistic scenario assumes that expenditure on education remains constant. As many countries are projected to see a significant increase in government spending asa response to the pandemic (even after taking into account reduced GDP growth), education spending could slightly increase for most countries – except lower-middle-income for countries – incomparison to thebusiness as usual scenario without COVID-19. it seems reasonable to assumeHowever, that additional resources mostly are being spent on health and other sectors in the immediate aftermath of the pandemic and increased government budgets do not result in increased education spending (in This assumptioncomparison is to in effect 2019). expenditure on education could drop by more than 82bn in 2020 in and 2021. 109bn

timistic COVID-19 scenario: This scenariotimistic COVID-19 siness as This usual without COVID-19: ddle COVID-19 scenario: This scenario takes ddle COVID-19 ssimistic COVID-19 scenario: This scenario ssimistic COVID-19 e-COVID-19: Educatione-COVID-19: spending in 2019. not increase spending on education beyond the and use additional level resources health for 2019 and other expenditures. into account the most recent GDP growth and expenditure estimates as 2020 for and 2021, explained above. It assumes that governments do as explained above. It assumes that the share of government expenditure allocated to education duedrops byto 10% reprioritisation towards other sectors. Pe takes into account the most recent GDP growth and expenditure estimates 2020 for and 2021, as explained above. It assumes that the share of government expenditures allocated to education remains constant at pre-crisis level. Mi Op takes into account the most recent GDP growth and expenditure estimates 2020 for and 2021, Pr Bu scenario provides estimates a business for as usual scenario and is based in 2020 on and 2021, projections made before the pandemic.

5. 2. middle-income countries. In order to derive an estimate and middle-income low- all for countries use per we capita China), values to (excluding estimate education spending countries for in the same income group if country-speciﬁc data is missing. age population has been used asdenominator. All expenditures measured are in constant 2010 US dollars. Our ﬁnal sample and includes low- 104 For per capita expenditure, the school relevant 3. 4. Scenarios scenarios been have Various simulated based on the data above. 1. 86 SAVE OUR EDUCATION LOWER-MIDDLE AND UPPER-MIDDLE INCOME COUNTRIES INCOME UPPER-MIDDLE AND LOWER-MIDDLE LOW, FOR SCENARIOS DIFFERENT UNDER EDUCATION ON SPENDING PROJECTED All countries in sample in countries All Upper-middle income Upper-middle Lower-middle income Lower-middle Low income Low All countries in sample in countries All Upper-middle income Upper-middle Lower-middle income Lower-middle Low income Low Income level (in US$) spending education capita Per US$) (in billion spending education Total Measure 679 2,404 355 77 696.8 453.2 228.9 14.7 Pre-COVID-19, 2019 696 2,427 376 79 835.0 552.5 265.4 711. 17.9 17.8 17.1 Business as usual without COVID-19, 2020 718 2,478 397 80 860.6 563.7 279.2 Business as usual without COVID-19, 2021 9 698 697 2,450 369 82 836.2 557.7 260.6 Optimistic COVID-19- scenario, 2020 2,359 399 84 835.3 536.3 280.4 18.6 Optimistic COVID-19- scenario, 2021 705 2,382 357 76 813.0 544.0 252.3 6716.8 16.7 Middle COVID-19- scenario, 2020 699 2,340 363 75 805.5 533.9 254.9 Middle COVID-19- scenario, 2021 2 628 627 2,196 332 74 752.2 501.5 234.6 16.1 Pessimistic COVID-19- scenario, 2020 2,114 359 75 751.4 482.3 252.3 16.7 Pessimistic COVID-19- scenario, 2021 Annex 3: Estimating the increase in school dropout

Save the Children and UNICEF estimated the number of children living in monetary poor households 211 and analysed various scenarios of how the COVID-19 crisis could affect school dropout rates.

Our analysis revealed that even before the In a heavily affected village in Sierra Leone, school pandemic hit, 586 million children – almost one enrolment rates for adolescent girls dropped by as in three children in low- and middle-income much as one third. countries – were living in families who could not To calculate the additional risk of school dropouts, make ends meet. we compare on a country-by-country basis the Taking into account the latest projections of differences in dropout rates between the quintiles economic growth from June 2020, we estimate who were poor before COVID-19 and the quintile that without urgent action to protect families, of children entering poverty because of COVID-19. the number of children living in monetary poor We apply this difference – which represents that households could soar to between 90 and additional risk of school drop-outs in poor 117 million in 2020, with a middle estimate of households – to the additional number of children 105 million. in monetary poverty. Poverty data is based on the joint Save the Children/UNICEF analysis, and the The increased number of children living in poor regional average has been used for countries where families is very likely resulting in additional children data is missing. See Annex 1 for an explanation of dropping out of school, adding to the more than the methodology we used. The sample does not 250 million children who were out of school in include high-income countries. 2018 – a number that has remain largely unchanged in the last decade. Many different factors contribute We estimate that an additional 90 and 117 million to this – poor families might not be able to afford to children living in poverty could lead to between send children to school, children may need to work 7.0 and 9.7 million children dropping out of school. or help with household chores, adolescent girls An increase in poverty by 105 million children are at risk of getting married early or becoming (our middle estimate) could mean 8.5 million pregnant. The experience from the Ebola crisis school dropouts. This is very likely to be a illustrates this challenge: there is evidence that an significant underestimate. aggravated financial situation made it more difficult for families to send their children back to school.

87 Endnotes

1 UNESCO, (2019). Meeting Commitments? Are countries on track to 17 World Bank (2019) Ending Learning Poverty: What will it take? achieve SDG4? http://uis.unesco.org/sites/default/files/documents/ https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/ meeting-commitments-are-countries-on-track-achieve-sdg4.pdf 32553/142659.pdf?sequence=7&isAllowed=y 2 UNESCO, (2019). New Methodology Shows that 258 Million 18 Black et al, 2016. Early childhood development coming of age: Children, Adolescents and Youth Are Out of School. http://uis.unesco. science through the life course, The Lancet. https://www.thelancet. org/sites/default/files/documents/new-methodology-shows-258-million- com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2816%2931389-7/fulltext children-adolescents-and-youth-are-out-school.pdf 19 UNHCR, (2020). Figures at a glance. https://www.unhcr.org/figures- 3 Malala Fund, (2016). New report says 130 million girls are out of at-a-glance.html school — so how did that number get so high? https://blog.malala.org/ 20 IMF, (2020). The Great Lockdown: Worst Economic Downturn Since new-report-says-130-million-girls-are-out-of-school-so-how-did-that- the Great Depression. https://blogs.imf.org/2020/04/14/the-great- number-get-so-high-162d8e2f2570 lockdown-worst-economic-downturn-since-the-great-depression/ 4 World Bank, (2029). Why focus on learning? https://blogs.worldbank. 21 The International Commission on Financing Global Education org/education/why-focus-learning Opportunity (2016) The Learning Generation: Investing in education for a 5 UNESCO GEM (2020). Global education monitoring report changing world summary, 2020: Inclusion and education: all means all. https://unesdoc. 22 UNESCO, (2019). 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index.html and childrens-rights/united-nations-convention-of-the-rights-of-the-child Declaration. learning-crisis-advocacy-brief-2020.pdf shows-2-2-million-children-are-out-school-south-sudan Sudan. South in School SE.XPD.TOTL.GB.ZS?most_recent_value_desc=true expenditure). government UNDP estimates of the minimum required for reaching the MDGs. the reaching for required minimum the of estimates UNDP previous to areference for Group, Working Development G-20 the to AReport Tax Systems: Effective More of Development the Supporting 2011, OECD See duties. rights human government on deliver to marriage/south-sudan/ https://report.educationcommission.org/report/ quality-education-peace-moves-forward partnership.org/blog/education-time-conflict-south-sudan-pursues- forward. moves peace as education quality commission.org/ World. aChanging for Education in Investing 164 163 162 161 160 167 166 165 178 177 176 175 174 173 172 171 170 169 168 over closure of schools due to COVID-19; mothers worried of the the of worried mothers COVID-19; to due schools of closure over sudanese-children-despair-over-closure-schools-due-covid-19 future. of-school-children-south-sudan-country-study.pdf http://uis.unesco.org/sites/default/files/documents/global-initiative-out- incheon-framework-for-action-implementation-of-sdg4-2016-en_2.pdf http://uis.unesco.org/sites/default/files/documents/education-2030- PublicationsLibrary/gds_tdr2019_COVID-192_en.pdf?user=1653 behind. left being population world’s the of two-thirds the for programme takes” it Towards a“whatever commission.org/ World. aChanging for Education in Investing WEOUpdateJune2020 children.net/node/8316/pdf/tackling_tax_and_saving_lives.pdf development. for financing and tax remaining countries. remaining the in expenditures estimate to used been have groups income various the for expenditures capita Per accessible. was data required the which for countries 104 on based is analysis actual The China). (excluding Impact-of-the-COVID-19-Pandemic-on-Education-Financing http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/479041589318526060/The- (English) Financing Education nigeria-13-million-children-out-of-school/ Children. Out-of-School Global Citizen, (2018). Nigeria Has World’s Largest Number of of Number World’s Largest Has Nigeria (2018). Citizen, Global

Education Commission, (2016). The Learning Generation. Generation. Learning The (2016). Commission, Education The analysis includes 130 low- and middle-income countries countries middle-income and 130 low- includes analysis The

World Vision, (2020). 1.9 million South Sudanese children despair despair children Sudanese South 1.9 million (2020). Vision, World The Education Commission ( 2016) The Learning Generation: Generation: Learning (2016) The Commission Education The As recommended by the UN as a minimum tax-to-GDP threshold threshold tax-to-GDP a minimum as UN the by recommended As The Education Commission ( 2016) The Learning Generation: Generation: Learning (2016) The Commission Education The UNCTAD, (2020). The Covid-19 Shock to Developing Countries: Countries: Developing to Shock Covid-19 The (2020). UNCTAD, World Bank. Government expenditure on education, total (% of of (% total education, on expenditure Government Bank. World Al-Samarrai, Samer. 2020. 2020. Samer. Al-Samarrai, Save the Children, 2014: Tackling tax and saving lives – Children, –Children, lives saving and tax Tackling 2014: Children, the Save UNESCO, (2015). Incheon Declaration and Framework for Action. Action. for Framework and Declaration Incheon (2015). UNESCO, Girls not brides, South Sudan. Sudan. South brides, not Girls GPE, (2020). Education in time of conflict: South Sudan pursues pursues Sudan South conflict: of time in Education (2020). GPE, UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Human Rights Rights Human Child. the of Rights the on Convention UN UIS, (2018) Global initiative on out of school children. South Sudan. Sudan. South children. school of out on initiative Global (2018) UIS, UIS, (2018). New Report Shows 2.2 Million Children are Out of of Out are Children Million 2.2 Shows Report New (2018). UIS, https://www.unicef.org/sites/default/files/2020-01/Addressing-the- https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WEO/Issues/2020/06/24/ https://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/ https://reliefweb.int/report/south-sudan/19-million-south- https://www.savethechildren.org.uk/what-we-do/ http://uis.unesco.org/en/news/new-report- https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/un- https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/ . Washington, D.C.: World Bank Group. Group. Bank World D.C.: . Washington, The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on on Pandemic COVID-19 the of Impact The https://www.girlsnotbrides.org/child- https://resourcecentre.savethe https://unctad.org/en/ https://www.global https://report.education https://report.education

ENDNOTES 93 .

https://www.who.int/ https://resourcecentre.savethe http://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/ Informal contribution from the United Nations System to https://unama.unmissions.org/sites/default/ﬁles/afghanistan_ https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2019/12/17/ https://www.savethechildren.org.uk/blogs/2020/coronavirus- UN, 2019. UNAMA, (2020). Afghanistan: protection of civilians in armed ECW, (2019). ECW, Women and girls take the lead in Afghanistan. World Bank , (2019). Afghanistan Learning Poverty Brief. Humanitarian Response Plan: Afghanistan, 2018–2021. World Bank , (2019). Afghanistan Learning Poverty Brief. UNICEF, (2019). Decree of the President of Islamic Republic of WHO, (2019). Stronger collaboration, better health: Global action World Bank , (2019). Afghanistan Learning Poverty Brief. Save the Children, (2019). Afraid to go outside. The impact of UNHCR, (2019). Global Framework on Refugee Education. World Bank, (2019). World Bank Announces $2.2 Billion Scale-up in World Bank (2020) The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on

https://www.unhcr.org/5dd50ce47.pdf invisible-victims-children-in-monetary-poor-househol plan for healthy lives and well-being for all. publications/i/item/stronger-collaboration-better-health-global-action- plan-for-healthy-lives-and-well-being-for-all conflict. protection_of_civilians_annual_report_2019_-_22_february.pdf Afghanistan on Endorsement of the Law on Protection of Child Rights. https://www.unicef.org/afghanistan/reports/law-protection-child-rights support coherence and a common narrative for the sustainable development related Summits and mandated high-level meetings of high-level week 2019 http://pubdocs.worldbank.org/en/190651571223567047/SAS-SACAF- AFG-LPBRIEF.pdf 206 207 208 210 211 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 209 https://www.educationcannotwait.org/girls-day-afghanistan/ Supportfor Refugees and Host Communities at First Global Refugee Forum. world-bank-announces-us22-billion-scale-up-in-support-for-refugees- and-host-communities-at-first-global-refugee-forum https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/afg_2018_2021_ humanitarian_response_plan_2020_update_lr.pdf education financing. 479041589318526060/pdf/The-Impact-of-the-COVID-19-Pandemic-on-Education-Financing.pdf http://pubdocs.worldbank.org/en/190651571223567047/SAS-SACAF- AFG-LPBRIEF.pdf http://pubdocs.worldbank.org/en/190651571223567047/SAS-SACAF- AFG-LPBRIEF.pdf conflict on children in Afghanistan. children.net/node/16314/pdf/afraid_to_go_outside_report.pdf

http://pubdocs. https://report.education https://resourcecentre. https://resourcecentre. https://uganda.savethechildren.net/ https://eurodad.org/unhealthy-conditions The Learning Generation: Investing in education for a Aid to education falls shifts slightly in away 2017, from A World Ready to Learn: prioritising quality early https://www.devex.com/news/why-education-stole- https://jubileedebt.org.uk/press-release/COVID-19- https://report.educationcommission.org/report/ https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000265866 UNESCO GEM Report (2020) COVID-19 is a serious threat to aid Save the Children (2019). Our recommendations to the design of See section 4.5 from page 56 Who Cares for the Future: ﬁnance Save the Children, (2020. COVID-19 home learning kits distributed World Bank, (2019). Uganda Learning Poverty Brief.

See, for example: The International Commission on Financing Global Education See Table 7, page See 66 7, Who Table Cares for the Future: ﬁnance gender- Jubilee Debt Campaign, (2020). Coronavirus worsens debt crisis in UNESCO GEM Report (2020) COVID-19 is a serious threat to aid

UNICEF, 2019. Save the Children, (2018). Time to Act: A costed plan to deliver Save the Children. Save the Children’s response to the design DEVEX, (2019). Why education stole the show at the Global The Education Commission The ( 2016) Learning Generation: Save the Children, (2020). the Walk talk?: Review of Financing UNESCO, 2019. Refugee Forum. the-show-at-the-global-refugee-forum-96246 responsive public services! poor countries. worsens-debt-crisis-in-poor-countries Investing in Education for a Changing World. commission.org/ the International Financing Facility for Education (IFFEd). https://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/node/13381/pdf/policy_ brief_save_the_children_on_iffed_april_2018.pdf to education recovery (Forthcoming) savethechildren.net/node/13479/pdf/time_to_act_report_online.pdf quality education to every last refugee child. for Education in Emergencies, 2015–2018. savethechildren.net/node/16803/pdf/wtt-web.pdf worldbank.org/en/816201571223428503/SSA-AFCE2-UGA-LPBRIEF.pdf 196 197 195 189 190 191 192 193 194 188 to education recovery (Forthcoming) 183 184 185 186 187 181 182 179 180 gender-responsive public services! https://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/node/14180/pdf/save_the_ childrens_response_to_the_iffed_sept_21st proposal for an International Financing Facility for Education (IFFEd). Opportunity (2016) changing world childhood education primary education to more than 100,000 children. news/covid-19-home-learning-kits-distributed-more-100000-children SAVE OUR EDUCATION

Protect every child’s right to learn in the COVID-19 response and recovery

For the ﬁrst time in human history, an entire global generation of children have had their education disrupted. In early April 2020, as the world tried to halt the spread of COVID-19, an estimated 1.6 billion learners globally were out of school.

This is a global education crisis. It requires urgent global action.

Save Our Education highlights the impact this pandemic will have on the poorest and most marginalised children. Our analysis suggests that almost 10 million children – likely a signiﬁcant underestimate – are at risk of not returning to school.

On top of this, as governments shift spending towards the health and economic responses to the pandemic, education budgets are likely to come under extreme pressure. Our analysis estimates a potential education ﬁnancing gap in low- and middle-income countries by the end of 2021 of $77 billion.

The world must act now to protect education.

Drawing on global programme evidence – from Colombia to Bangladesh, and Ethiopia to Lebanon – this report sets out the action needed to keep education alive, prepare for school reopening, and to build back better. Because at the heart of the global recovery effort from the pandemic must be every child’s right to learn.

savethechildren.net